Pros
A great working atmosphere in the corporate office. A fun company culture that emphasized employee interaction. Pay (at least for our group) was competitive with other restaurant companies . Many of the employees in the corporate office do a lot to make it a great place to work and inject their personalities into the culture. Many of the employees will go above & beyond to service the stores. A very good place to pick up skills and enjoy working for a company that seems to truly care about creating a great atmosphere to work in. It was great to be able to take part in sampling new menu items in the test kitchen. They even have vending machines that dispense free cans of beer after 5pm.
Cons
Tough industry post 9/11. Corporate parent interferes a lot in normal operations. Lots of layoffs in corporate office after a failed attempt at outsourcing many internal functions through IBM has left a lot of scars. Still fairly short-handed in several of the corporate departments. A lot of stress due to unrealistic expectations for the restaurant arm of the company from the corporate parent has led to many of the senior management to leave the company. Many times you will be left banging your head against the wall in frustration. There seems to be a lot of lost opportunities over the years to speed past competitors, many of the operations group seemed to be spinning in place due to lack of a clear vision.