Sur La Table reviews

3.1

41% would recommend to a friend

(1,059 total reviews)

Jason Goldberger

46% approve of CEO

31% positive business outlook

Sur La Table has an employee rating of 3.1 out of 5 stars, based on 1,059 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Sur La Table employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Ventas al mayoreo y al menudeo industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

1K reviews
1.0
Apr 10, 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The discount is great (40% off regular priced items), and most of the people are really nice, friendly, and highly educated (most of my coworkers had at least bachelors degrees, if not masters). If I wanted to work only one or two shifts a week, they would allow it (getting more than 20 hours a week can be an issue).

Cons

As kitchen assistant, I thought I would be helping teach and assist customers with the classes. I ended up just washing dishes. They hire on too educated of people to have them just wash dishes by hand (not even in a dishwasher)! My chef was also very disorganized and anal all at the same time. He would talk down to his staff and came off as if he was superior to us all. In actuality, he had less culinary training/knowledge than many of the people who worked for him. On top of this, he would get mad at the kitchen assistants for not supposedly not working hard enough or caring. (Making minimum wage, having an advanced degree, and getting belittled...there is little incentive to work hard.). There was also pressure to skip the fifteen minute breaks.

1.0
Feb 6, 2011

Run the other way

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great discount, friendly customers and a wonderful selection of product if you like to cook.

Cons

Possibly the most negative environment in which I have worked. While you heard from upper management when you did something wrong, there was never any positive reinforcement. The only kudos received were when you sold a $3000 espresso machine (which the company evidently over bought). The daily routine was directed by emails from upper management written in all caps and bold print. If there was a problem created by corporate, you were never permitted to address it with them, because it was always your fault. Policies and tasks were reinvented on a daily basis. When they tired of you, they aggressively set you up for failure, with unreasonable demands that verged on harassment. If that didn't work, they found some infraction - sometimes one that you had no real control over. Those employees that eventually left on their own said they were leaving because they were tired of being made to feel like they were stupid. Only work for this company if you have no outside life, really enjoy being micro-managed, enjoy being harassed and are under 40. Oh yes, while the customers are largely boomers, the staff is largely very young. In my store, a member of upper management confided in an employee that she was glad that the energy was changing with several new young people coming on board and less "white heads". Don't think the EEOC would like that one. Generally speaking, not a good place to work.

Viewing 163 - 165 of 1,059 Reviews

Glassdoor has 1,088 Sur La Table reviews submitted anonymously by Sur La Table employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Sur La Table is right for you.