Pros
I helped open 2 of the clubs in Georgia. Corporate comes down and helps organize and prepare you for opening, they have great insight and are very helpful. They guide without micro-managing and they are there for support, even if it's to tell you to take a break and eat. The pump up "All-Club" meetings are great too, it creates a unique culture and are cherished memories. A month after the club opens this stops.
Cons
A month after the club opens all of this support stops. Instead you are handed a strict budget that is difficult to hire enough staff. You can't expect to higher Chick-Fil-A quality with less than McDonald's compensation. Never mind those who work outside at the Poolside Bistro and juggle quick-service, lifeguard breaks and the GA heat. From my experience, there is not enough storage to handle the inventory needed. Especially in the Bistro! This turns into employees having to go all the way inside to get more inventory. This all goes back to the staffing shortage, if they cant entice enough people to come work, than you are stuck way overworking staff and working at the bare minimum. There is a new menu roll-out each year for the cafe and bistro. This menu roll-out includes a price hike and many staple/popular menu items taken off and replaced with new ones. This is hard to explain to members. A lot of time new menu items require a specific ingredient that is ONLY used for that entree/smoothie. This is extremely difficult to manage, if the menu item takes off the food distributors do not have heads up and do not have enough inventory to send out to the clubs. This also adds to the inventory problem, there is extremely limited space to store dry/cold/frozen food. This could easily be fixed by using ingredients for more than one menu item. It would cut down on inventory, frustration, and shortages.
