HOPKINS AND COMPANY Reviews

The company is run entirely by people who have no accountability, no integrity and no morals. They knowingly hire people with anger issues into management roles and look the other way when abuse is being reported. They won’t support you as an employee. They pretend to listen and care about your issues but there will be no follow through. They can’t pay invoices on time to save their life, so good luck keeping your reputation or relationships in tact. Marketing is a joke, if you can even call what they do “marketing.” And they will think nothing of shutting down an entire restaurant of hardworking employees on a whim, when it suits them, with no warning and no severance or even a simple message. They will, however, keep the one abusive person, who was destroying everything at the restaurant and give that person a role at one of their other places in Atlanta. They couldn’t care less about anyone else. They couldn’t care less about phenomenal people who accidentally had the misfortune of stumbling into their employment and being sold a fabrication of some fantasy company of perfection that couldn’t be further from the truth. They clearly hated Asheville and everyone here.

There are a lot of red flags here. The owners do not pay their vendors and have been blacklisted by dozens of suppliers and farmers. It’s odd that a company of this size has these financial issues and points to money being severely mismanaged. The owners live quite a lavish lifestyle but are unable to pay the small farmers and artists they claim to support. Frankly, it is embarrassing having to field constant phone calls and emails from people asking to be paid, and stressful trying to order basic supplies after being cut off from just about every vendor. They have had chronic staffing issues for years due to the toxic work environment in all of their restaurants. It is mostly due to owner’s mistreatment of their managers, poor communication, and a general disdain for the hourly staff. The owner calls himself an elitist and calls his employees “losers”. They thought police the way people speak. There are several normal and innocent phrases that are banned, saying them will result in being talked down to and humiliated. One employee said “no problem” and the owner went on a bizarre tirade in front of everyone and accused them of being disrespectful. The owner’s son works as a manager despite being caught sneaking into the restaurants after close, helping himself to the liquor, and passing out in a booth. His approach to management is just as sloppy. The nepotism is detrimental to the morale of the team and the employees do not respect him. The company used to have a good reputation, sadly that is no longer the case. It’s an open secret in the restaurant industry that they cultivate toxic work environments and can’t pay their bills.