several varieties: fried, baked, bbq, chicken sandwich, flavorless (and cold) off the bone chicken.
If I wanted chicken, I'd go to KFC! In all seriousness, I remember when you used to be able to get a good meal. Meatloaf with SIDES (holy crap, what are those?) Nowadays it's just chicken or readymade (over priced) sandwiches. F-that. I want tacos! hamburgers! lasagna...I'm not stupid, I know it comes in a pan already made. All they gotta do is heat it up! Deli has more hours than any other dept it seems. Cook bitch!
They couldnt even do nathan hot dogs right..good luck.
ah yes I remember those. They were so good yet so bad. Always seemed to be overcooked. Hell we rarely ever do chicken sandwiches anymore. Those were a slightly better option. Heck nowadays when our deli does cook the sux deluxe, they cook like 2 of them so they'll for sure sell so they won't have leftovers and have to add to their already ridiculous shrink.
I often wonder if they've stopped so they won't have to wait on employee-customers as much. I can do chicken once a week, but damned if I'll do it 5 times!! Heck, back when they did have real food, you could get a decent meal but it'd cost as much as going across the street to the DQ or something.
I've worked in three stores as a deli clerk. In every store, the deli is always the most understaffed and busiest department. Then when things don't go right, or during the slow season(Jan-Feb), the deli gets their hours cut. Many Sundays, we should have had at least 7-8 people, but are forced to run with 2-3 people.
Then when we do get help, it seems that we get the new hires that no one else wants - "stick them in the deli".
Yes, it would be nice to have more than just chicken. But with things the way they are, you're lucky you get the chicken. Lately all the store managers and comanagers seem to care about is getting the grab & go out by 9AM.
So before you judge the deli, try working in the deli for a while.
I've worked in three stores as a deli clerk. In every store, the deli is always the most understaffed and busiest department. Then when things don't go right, or during the slow season(Jan-Feb), the deli gets their hours cut. Many Sundays, we should have had at least 7-8 people, but are forced to run with 2-3 people.
Then when we do get help, it seems that we get the new hires that no one else wants - "stick them in the deli".
Yes, it would be nice to have more than just chicken. But with things the way they are, you're lucky you get the chicken. Lately all the store managers and comanagers seem to care about is getting the grab & go out by 9AM.
So before you judge the deli, try working in the deli for a while.
I WHOLEHEARTEDLY AGREE!!!! The original poster of this thread is totally clueless! So, original poster, just Go work in a busy store as the "CHICKEN COOK" and find out what a filthy dirty mess you have to deal with every day! Not enough hours to get everything done anywhere near Kroger "standards". Stop to run out and wait on customers, ring them up at the deli cash register, run back and throw the baked chicken in, hurry and rack up the savory rotisserie chicken, write down the temps in the temp log, fill out the PPST, filter the deep fryer (we have ours that are programmed to quit working until they go through a filtering cycle......after every 3 fries!!!), keep up with any big carryout order, wash pans, empty the garbage can that's getting too full, the work is never never never ending. And you are expected to take you breaks and lunch even if it is physically impossible!! Maybe at A FEW stores that aren't so busy and the Chicken Detail isn't as bad, but you DO NOT WANT to do the job at my store!!!!
in my store's deli, there will be more people working by 7 am than my dept will have all day long. How much do the deli's actually make? Nowhere near what grocery/produce/meat/dairy/nutrition if I had to take a guess, I'd say it takes a loss.
The part that i thought was hilarious was "deli has more hours than any other department"... now yes, it does seem like deli is over scheduled compared to the bakery, but when you compare it to departments like produce or especially night crew (those guys get like unlimited overtime it seems), deli gets the short end of the stick every time.
You're right though actually, service departments like deli and bakery either just barely make a profit or even create a loss for the store. it's just going to happen though because of the labor it takes to actually produce the item, unlike grocery who's just putting the items on the shelf (not saying it's an easy job, i'm just talking in amount of time). it takes longer for the item to go from point a to point b in a service department.
-- Edited by 4hourrush on Tuesday 2nd of August 2016 08:51:38 PM
-- Edited by 4hourrush on Tuesday 2nd of August 2016 08:52:04 PM
I've worked in three stores as a deli clerk. In every store, the deli is always the most understaffed and busiest department. Then when things don't go right, or during the slow season(Jan-Feb), the deli gets their hours cut. Many Sundays, we should have had at least 7-8 people, but are forced to run with 2-3 people.
Then when we do get help, it seems that we get the new hires that no one else wants - "stick them in the deli".
Yes, it would be nice to have more than just chicken. But with things the way they are, you're lucky you get the chicken. Lately all the store managers and comanagers seem to care about is getting the grab & go out by 9AM.
So before you judge the deli, try working in the deli for a while.
I WHOLEHEARTEDLY AGREE!!!! The original poster of this thread is totally clueless! So, original poster, just Go work in a busy store as the "CHICKEN COOK" and find out what a filthy dirty mess you have to deal with every day! Not enough hours to get everything done anywhere near Kroger "standards". Stop to run out and wait on customers, ring them up at the deli cash register, run back and throw the baked chicken in, hurry and rack up the savory rotisserie chicken, write down the temps in the temp log, fill out the PPST, filter the deep fryer (we have ours that are programmed to quit working until they go through a filtering cycle......after every 3 fries!!!), keep up with any big carryout order, wash pans, empty the garbage can that's getting too full, the work is never never never ending. And you are expected to take you breaks and lunch even if it is physically impossible!! Maybe at A FEW stores that aren't so busy and the Chicken Detail isn't as bad, but you DO NOT WANT to do the job at my store!!!!
Thanks for seeing my point. I forgot to mention heaven help if on top of everything you are a Boar's Head store, and they are in the store making sure that you are making their sandwiches, wraps and salads, and pushing their overpriced stuff.
The part that i thought was hilarious was "deli has more hours than any other department"... now yes, it does seem like deli is over scheduled compared to the bakery, but when you compare it to departments like produce or especially night crew (those guys get like unlimited overtime it seems), deli gets the short end of the stick every time.
-- Edited by 4hourrush on Tuesday 2nd of August 2016 08:51:38 PM
-- Edited by 4hourrush on Tuesday 2nd of August 2016 08:52:04 PM
we aren't allowed overtime. Well all but maybe 2-3 pets. It's bs really.
We're so short staffed in my dept that we have people from other departments filling in. People go down with injuries or illness and their hours just disappear. Where does 40 hours go? Someone else has to do their own job AND injured person's job. Makes the day go by much quicker I will admit!
Back on topic: It can't be more difficult to heat up a pizza than it is to fry chicken. We're tired of chicken all the time.
Pizza has a very short shelf life or its just nasty after an hour or so. I worked the deli & ours had a brick pizza oven. We made various pizza by the slice for maybe $2.50. Also had a burrito station. Another store I worked at had a "torpedo oven" to cook sandwiches. You could make a mean Italian Sub or turkey bacon cheddar. The hot dogs were ok but gave me a weird after taste. To cook them best, I added a little water on the sheet tray and rolled them over once in the oven. All those sandwiches took time to assemble so they are kinda a PITA when you got all the other crap to make as well. All those stouffer meals were too expensive. Some were good and some sucked. If your store had a chef, they might whip up a dish. We had a chef from South America who did some alright stuff.
__________________
I am no longer part of the oppressed, evil workforce of Kroger! Can you say "Hallelujah"
We made various pizza by the slice for maybe $2.50.
ours are usually 99Cents. I think they use the markdown pizzas. They'll make 8bucks (I think) instead of the 4-6 they would by selling the pizza whole. Plus it makes for happy employees.
