COOK Employee Reviews

Enjoyment of role will rest entirely on the other people in the very small store team - if one person is not doing their fair share of deliveries, evenings or weekend shifts, it can hugely detrimental to the rest of the team.

Pros

Staff discount

Cons

Heavy lifting, unfair share of responsibility across team members

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It's a hard work for little money.It used to be a good working place but not anymore.

Secret (Former Employee) - Cook Classics, Sittingbourne - 2 September 2023

It's a hard work for little money.It used to be a good working place but not anymore.Managers are stealing money from people, high level of discrimination.Very poor management. You have to fight for money to be paid.Much stress for little money.hink twice before applying.

Pros

Free lunch, people team isn't bad (in the office upstairs)

Cons

Low-rate salary, high level of discrimination and bulling at work, poor management, asking to work more and don't pay for overtime, very dangerous place to work

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Insights into COOK

Based on 7 survey responses

What people like

Clear sense of purpose
Time and location flexibility

Areas for improvement

Sense of belonging
Support from manager
Trust in colleagues

Lovely people and a great compnay culture

Administrator (Current Employee) - Sittingbourne, Kent - 8 June 2023

I work at head offcie in Sittingbourne. The people are really friendy and there is a nice culture. Everyone works very hard but we also have lots of fun.

Pros

Free lunches, compnay days out, great benefits

Cons

commute to sittingbourne

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Awful place to work

Delivery Driver cook (Former Employee) - Southgate, Greater London - 4 December 2022

Shocking place too work ,always moving the goal posts in there favour. Everything is your fault. Tell you too deliver faster and rush you even know thay offer you a 0 hour contract with no security. Do not work here ,too much stress for a part time 0 hour contract job .

Pros

A cuple of early days but you will only earn £30 pointless.

Cons

All of the above.

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Local delivery driver

Local delivery driver (Current Employee) - Sittingbourne, Kent - 19 July 2022

Keep changing the goal posts re admin needed. Prioritise customer deliveries over driver well being. Zero hours contract so very one sided to suit Cook. Not great perks - drove 6 hours on the hottest day of the year in a van without aircon and wasn’t even offered as much as a lolly or ice cream on return - not great from a shop full of frozen food!

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Nice place to work whil I was there

Assistant (Former Employee) - United Kingdom - 20 May 2022

Lived working at Cook Trading . I was there for slmodt 5 years but had to leave due to ill health. I miss working there. Unfortunately things never stay the same. I went back after bring ill but new staff and didn't feel I fitted in anymore.

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Total lack of support

Driver (Current Employee) - South - 23 March 2022

Cook are a fantastic company its just a shame theres no support & encouragement from the bosses. All the staff are great fun super friendly just a shame about communication from bosses.

Pros

Friendly co workers great support

Cons

No support or communication from bosses

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It's "okay"

Packing Assistant (Current Employee) - Sittingbourne, Kent - 15 March 2022

Been working here almost a year. I mean, it's not a bad job but it is pretty much a dead end job in most cases.People employed before 2020 get overtime paid at 150% so when you are asked to do overtime, as a new employee on the new contract, you will get NLW so no incentive to give up your own time to help the company out when they need you to. The management spend a lot of time navel gazing and don't actually spend time working with you as they are too busy doing not a lot. Team Leaders lack authority and nuance, hence, if you are new , they won't teach you how to do your job, and mainly rely on people who can work on their own initiative. You won't get much training and you'll only be shown enough so that you can perform your job. A lot of chatter, and as such, the production suffers but noone will get on your back if you do less than expected in a shift because production and KPI is mainly an afterthought. The culture is very much, do what you can, so those of you who are a little work shy don't be afraid as you won't be pushed to your limits like most other places. It "can" be a good atmosphere but this is mostly generated by those who aren't being very productive whllst the harder working experienced people fill in all the gaps in talent and skill. You get free good every day and profit share and other benefits but mostly, it's a dead end job.

Pros

Free lunches and food, profit share

Cons

Mediocre pay, low level of production and not really a platform for launching a career

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Good Pay, Good People, Good Place

Retail Assistant (Former Employee) - East Grinstead - 10 September 2021

I absolutely loved working for Cook Trading Ltd. The only reason I left is because I moved across the country and there wasn't a shop nearby for me to transfer too.The staff at the store I worked in were amazing! Super friendly, helpful and willing to get the job done. I even worked with several people from different stores who all shared the same principles.The job itself is brilliant, in my opinion. You do typical retail roles such as serving customers, packing delivery orders and restocking freezers/shelves. But the environment is very relaxed. You all work together to get the daily jobs done and as long as you keep on top of everything, you'll never find yourself too stressed out. The only time I felt stressed working there was at Christmas time in 2020, as the company had only recently introduced home deliveries, so there were a lot more orders than a typical Christmas for them.The pay you get is national living wage, which is amazing as there is no bias or discrimination to age/gender/race. The company has brilliant values and really focuses on them. For example, they often work with charities local to the shops to provide free food to those who need it, and occasionally offering freebies to loyal customers as a thank you. However, there was a slight issue that I had on a personal level that was their policies on appearance. They weren't overall keen on unnatural hair colours, piercings and tattoos. Although, I had orange and purple hair when I was interviewed and got the job based on my personality and skills, and I actually had full support from everyone I worked -

Pros

National Living Wage, Relaxed Environment, 30% Staff Discount, Great Company Values

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Great company culture

People Advisor (Former Employee) - Sittingbourne, Kent - 23 August 2021

Everyone work hard but had fun doing so. Really strong values and these were really lived. Care is one of the values, they really look after their employers and the team members look out for each other.

Pros

Free lunches on Thursdays, treat Tuesday, lots of wellbeing help. Good rates of pay

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Jobs at COOK

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Food Production Operative

Food Production Operative

Casual Food Production Operative

Ilminster

6 days ago

Family run business which made people more approachable

Retail Manager (Former Employee) - Bromley, Greater London - 9 March 2021

I enjoyed my 8 years at Cook I had a great team which is important in Cook. Support from your area manager is vital too. People team are always there for you. They are part of the B CorpLots of benifits and good holiday allowance. Pay is very good to.

Pros

Profit sharing / Good discount on their food /pension

Cons

Long hours at times

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Brilliant place to work

Sales Assistant (Part-time) (Current Employee) - Ashtead, Surrey - 25 January 2020

I love working at Cook: everything it stands for, fits with my personal ethics. Great team, good support, lovely approach to social responsibility as you would expect from a 'B-Corp' member.

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Disgusting attitude towards prospective employees

Chef (Former Employee) - Sittingbourne, Kent - 30 July 2018

I attended an interview with Cook, which lasted around 45 minutes or so and included a tour round the facilities where the food was prepared and cooked. I was told that they had several other people to interview and would be making a decision within a week. I never heard anything back from them. I don't have an issue with not being offered the position as I'm not sure it was 100% right for me, but it would have taken their HR department no more than 30 seconds to cut and paste a rejection email to me. If this is how the company operates, then I'm glad that I don't work for them.

Pros

None

Cons

Disgusting attitude

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Fun and educational

Customer Service Assistant (Former Employee) - Godalming, Surrey - 23 March 2017

I liked working here for many reasons, even tho this was a part time job whilst i studied i feel like i learnt a lot about food and built a good rapport with customers and staff alike.

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Happy and fun environment

Shop Assistant (Current Employee) - Dorking - 30 October 2016

Love working at cook the only thing is I am on a 0 hour contract which leaves me with hardly any hours to actually work and I am now looking for something more permanent and contracted , but for only part time as I am a student .