lol yea, when I read it was due to staffing, I knew that was bullshit. but just throw8ng all the employees out like that? Fuck Big Burrito

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From what I understand, they didn’t exactly treat their employees well during lockdown. I feel like these two things are related.

Stop. Why are we continuously mourning the death of one location from a mediocre (at best) chain?

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

Imagine doxxing yourself in an attempt to get retribution against a company that has already let you know it doesn't care about you.

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Because it was the first, and at the time they were doing something that no one else was. And regardless of your opinion of the food, lots of people had a great time eating and drinking there over the years.

I can’t believe the group is actually called “Big Burrito” I thought people were using it like the term big oil but ironically lmao

Because they have good food despite your experience

Go apply at Fuel and Fuddle, they'd love to have you. (I can't confirm this, just a hunch)

Imagine writing this comment and thinking it's a good point.

"nObOdY wAnTs tO wOrK aNyMoRe 🤡"

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Username does not check out

Wait, do you actually think they invented the concept of getting people drunk on margaritas while they eat cheap combinations of tortillas meat and cheese?

They were among the first in Iakland to have a draft list beyond the major domestics for one. For a long time, they reigned as the best Mexican food in Oakland

God this thread and this subject in general is bringing the most smooth brain boomer takes

They do not. It’s Taco Bell quality AT BEST.

Well aren’t you all high and mighty. You don’t have to like it but if others do it still stinks to lose a restaurant you like.

Besides this post is in regards to the restaurant lying about why they are closing, which directly impacts peoples livelihoods and is playing up a bs narrative that people don’t want to work these days.

applied here as a cook and got turned down because i take the bus and don't drive so i have "unreliable transportation". staffing shortage, my dick.

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Lmao wait that’s so funny I like your thought process better

If you were lucky enough to get a chair at the bar it was a vip experience … lol

Oakland, it’s not that big of a place you know you can travel to other parts of the city, right? There’s been plenty of average at best Mexican food places with craft and foreign beers in Pittsburgh for a long time.

Zoomers go to some chain restaurant and act like they’re some Michelin pioneers. Next week you’ll be telling me about this amazing innovative ribs joint named Chili’s. Good lord

What the hell? Bus service in Oakland is solid.

Yeah because college kids getting some food and drinks want to travel instead of walking to get something. Most of the people who are pissed are either students or used to be and are watching yet another part of Oakland close down. Step off with the unnecessary and uninformed criticism

this is 100% an issue every place i have ever worked in the city before my current job. the first question armstrong's (food) and printdropper (merch) asked my at my interviews was if i had my own car. not sure how the last 6-8 years of my life would have gone without one...

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🤔 yeah, for sure, explain this then? https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BG48ENgCEAAIDl9.jpg

It was the first mad mex.

Part of me wants to hear more about this, but the other knows that ultimately the unsatisfying answer will be that yet another business is incapable of operating in an environment where they cannot treat their employees as slaves and/or steal their wages to make their profits.

Asking if you have a car could get them in legal trouble ilink.

this was respectively in 2018 and 2020 so im over it lmaooooo

Mad Mex really screwed people when they opened back up to only to take out. They took away normal hourly wages from other employees and split the servers’ tips up even more to to cover the difference, when we were already making way less money to begin with. I literally stopped working at restaurants completely after that bs.

I worked for Big Burrito at a different restaurant for two months & noped out of there so hard. No thank you!

You realize a lot of college students have limited transportation options? Having access to good cheap food with a great (for the time) draft list is pretty much the perfect college spot. It's not hard to see why they will be missed even if Big Burrito are sometimes hard to like.

Got laid off from a BigBurrito restaurant during Covid, the management at the place worked hard to take care of us, but I've heard other people say this same thing. I wonder if the mad mex employees in particular got screwed. They were kinda their own "thing" in the company.

Fuck big burrito, indeed.

Um did you read it? This is not about mourning Mad Mex but about calling out the owners for blaming the closure on a staffing shortage.

So no one knows why they closed? What about the one in Shadyside? Wasn’t it kind of the same situation with steel cactus just closing out of nowhere?

I just Karened them out on IG, you can still fill out their virtual comment card for Oakland. I kept it professional, said I understood shit happens but explained that I disagree with the hypocrisy of expecting employees to give notice but holding yourself to a different standard.

Bill Fuller is such a tool

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I applied when I saw they were reopening. Even with management experience and tons of experience all restaurant, they did not move forward but we’re constantly hiring.

Employers are allowed to ask if you have “reliable transportation” to work. They are NOT allowed to ask what that transportation is UNLESS it is specific to performance of the job, ie a newspaper route or traveling salesman. If you.are asked about transportation, all you need to say is yes, and if they probe further you can remind them of what is legal/ not to ask during an interview, like age, religion, etc.

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Heard they refused to renew their lease, told nobody that worked there.

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Oak hill post is hiring. Starting at $18-$21 an hour

The honest answer no one will give you is “nostalgia.”

More like GargantuanBitch am I right

It looks like the restaurant industry, Big Burrito included, is going through what a steel plant in my hometown did years ago when the owners shut it down.

They tell the public it's the workers fault. They tell you that they got too greedy or that they can't find people willing to work. What they don't tell you is that the owning interests were still making money, just not as much money as their other interests are or as much money as they used to, and they decide not to make the effort to keep it running because it just doesn't look good on paper. I'm guessing that's the real story.

Not surprised. They did the same crap to them when the location temporarily closed. They don’t give a crap about their employees, everyone is replaceable.

Nice of them to play the “nobody wants to work anymore” card.

It is. I worked at a mad Mex (another store) until recently and it was clear the company’s bottom line is struggling. Not confirmed but just things I heard. They’re likely cutting dead weight stores which to be fair, this one in particular is because the shadyside location is far superior.

Fuck big Burrito. Worst 24 hours of my career

Used to work for another places, in shadyside that just closed in the last 2 weeks. They had about 10 part time employees. The owner only told their best customers and 2 of the employees, but they also contacted old employees, who hadn’t worked for them in a decade, to tell them. The 2 employees they told were not managers or supervisors.

They haven’t posted it on any social media. They just turned off the phones and closed up. One of their employees worked for them for almost 20 years, and they never called her.

I wish I were surprised that business owners can be completely ignorant of how to treat their staff like humans, but sadly I’m not. And I think this trend will continue.

insane to me that this could be considered a dead weight store with how busy it always is

From what I understand, you don’t know what you’re talking about

You can’t get a Gobblerito at Taco Bell. Psht.

Please please please tell me you will treat us to a gassy, bloated, runny, explosive Big Burrito-fueled rant on this subreddit about this nadir in your career before the weekend is out?

For once you make an excellent point, u/GargantuanWitch. Though I think the self-doxxee has the forces of light and justice on their side.

Oh u/CowboyNealCassady, how you scratch me where I itch! I used to sing the praises of the BLS, but they fucked me in 2006-2007, again in 2010 (resulting in a loss of eight years of wages, though admittedly my case is probably unique/ rare in a unicorn-ish way), and yet again their forecasts from 2017-2018 are yet again proving to be grotesquely, double-digit percentage-points off and I’m just waiting for the inevitable offshoring for a career field with a 26% growth forecast through mid-decade just four years ago. BLS statisticians are either evil, or incompetent, but they all need some serious Lord of the Flies federal severance packages.

Yeah, another check mark in the column for Taco Bell being better.

Hush, child. Grown-ups are speaking.

Edgelord dipshit

When Mad Mex first opened, it was actually a new and inventive take on Mexican cuisine. Now every town has what I like to call fancy taco places.

My brother worked at was exploited by the McKnight Rd location for years before he finally moved on to a place that let him run his own kitchen and make his own menu, and he's much happier now.

If I only had an award you’d get it

Mex gets terrible quality food, they treat staff like trash, and they have issues with mice ALLLLL of the time at this location. Plus the company is based off gaining profits from racial stereotypes. Oakland should have closed years ago. Source: I worked here

Did they get rid of the dishwasher that had been there for a million years?

Mex is the red headed stepchild of Big Burrito. ESPECIALLY the Oakland location

Until the summer when it was Dead Dead

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That’s very fair.

And then you’re combative and don’t get the job anyway.

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My boss does this yet we have a stack of applications nearing the hundreds. No boss wants to pay because they want more money.

True. So the result is the same, but you’d demonstrated you know more about hiring than the person doing the hiring.

Didn't I read somewhere that all of the employees were offered positions at other Big Burrito locations in Pittsburgh? I mean, I followed my favorite server to Shadyside.

So, you think Chili's is comparable to Mad Mex? A local chain that's been in that location for decades is comparable to an international chain that plops itself down in whatever shiny new development it can?

Hahaha, that's such obvious bullshit.

(Read in Alex Jones voice) “Joe, Joe, listen to me……”Big Burrito” wants you to believe that corn tortillas aren’t better. That’s because they own the flour tortilla factories.”

With the way things cost these days they can’t afford to have a restaurant that doesn’t do well year round.

Well DANG!

This sounds about right, and very familiar.

Or you could just say yeah I have a car and take the bus and show up on time and nobody will know or care

Right before the Covid lockdowns started, my husband and I went to Mad Mex Oakland several times in the span of a few weeks. We kept getting the same waitress. She told us that she was really happy to see us because we were polite and tipped well, and that having customers such as us make her shifts a little bit better. She definitely seemed like she was having a rough time. This should have tipped me off that something was "off" with the working conditions there. Then the Covid shutdowns happened, and when we went to Mad Mex for our next visit more than 2 years later, we didn't see her. We both looked for her and hoped that she was now working in a better situation.

Then when they see you riding the bus you can say you own a car but (I don’t have a license) (it’s a matchbox car) (my partner is using) (you do t pay me enough to cover insurance)

Yes to both. There’s literally no penalty for lying during an interview. Application is a different matter, but they’re not asking on the app if you have transportation, unless it’s a job that requires a car/ bike.

Sacrificing one restaurant to pay for another perhaps? Seems about right for bigB.

https://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/big-burrito-group-to-open-a-new-alta-via-restaurant-in-downtown-pittsburgh/

Busses outside of Oakland arent very good. From their perspective, bus route changes, closures, weather, etc. Lots of things cause people to be late or choose to call off when the commute it's too shitty. Not saying you are like that, but enough employees have been they no longer consider it reliable. I worked for that company for years and years. The reality is, constant calls off and no shows have made them pretty strict. Not saying it's right, but that likely the mindset. Regional and XO chefs were picking up kitchen shifts over that last year's. They probably can't keep up across all the stores. Again not justifying this move in any way.

On the other hand they're probably the only restaurant group that can afford to pay managers and kitchen staff more and actively fight not to and often choose the lesser qualified cheaper person for the job. Leadership in this company had been ravaged before covid. So ultimately it's my opinion, they've done this to themselves.

If anyone was around for when they fired the woman who open Kaya. She was the soul of that place for over twenty years and who made it great, she was that store. They treated her like shit and kicked her to the curb at the end. Big Burrito fucking sucks when it comes to how they view and handle employees. The era of Tom Baron is gone, the company sorely needs him back. They're gonna strangle themselves out because they're selfish, greedy, and don't give a fuck about people....

Edit: it's not -that- bad, I was just irritated after reading the OP. I didn't dislike my time with big Burrito, I learned a lot and working for them definitely made me better. That said I'm glad I moved along. They are big part of service industry workers in the city and have been for a long time. So it sucks when a company who could be an idol in the industry for the city does shady things like the OP posted.

that's the only bar I go to in Oakland now.

Years ago we ordered delivery from Mad Mex. I got a burrito but what was delivered was an empty burrito shell (folded as if it were filled) with a raw carrot slice on top. I wish I had taken a picture. So I called the store with no answer (so no replacement meal or refund). Emailed them and they said they would mail me a gift card as an apology (pre e-gift cards - they mailed me a physical card). Went out to eat a week or so later at a different, now closed Big Burrito store, gave them my gift card…it was empty. They legit mailed me an empty gift card as an apology for the empty burrito. 😂🙄🤬

You mad, bro?

Idk why the downvotes. They have their servers paint their faces for day of the dead, owned and managed almost entirely by white people while serving margaritas made in legitimate trash cans. Not exactly authentic?

On top of that took tons of money in PPP loans and looked at the pandemic as an opportunity to get rid of the employees that they didn’t like after telling them that Covid ‘wasn’t that big of a deal’ and that they shouldn’t be concerned.

I get it that people have nostalgia for the place, but there are tons of other places to get good food who treat employees better than this company.

This. I work at CMU and this place was my regular spot. Lunch there during the summer only had like 3-5 tables seated when I would go.

It was like that all of the time in the summer. This location was just too small and didn’t have the oomph that shady side has.

Tom Baron is still there, wtf are you talking about?

Can confirm. Source: me, person who worked closely with him

Also a tool: his social justice warrior wife who watches him act like a dick and then pretends to give a shit about people

They pushed Tom Barron to ‘founder’ and Fuller to president. CK is the majority holder these days. To be fair they pushed Tom to that position bc he was a bit of a liability. Sooo as far as I know, Tom just adjusts lights, complains about food and makes decor decisions these days.

Monika was a saint and they did her dirty.

Tom just adjusts lights turns lights down, complains about food and music choices, and makes decor decisions these days

FTFY

At one place, there were 2 music choices he didn't hate: Gypsy Kings and Al Green. He would complain about any other music being played

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Perfect edit. If you know, you know. I swear upper management is just soo painfully out of touch.

We might know each other, lol. I always liked his wife (and I suppose I still do,) but it's disappointing that she married such a tool

I agree, and I think it's their right to do whatever they want with their business. It's just soooooo super shitty to pull the "nobody wants to work" nonsense when what they actually have is a failure to adapt. And a known reputation of treating employees poorly. If they would have said they were closing because of rising costs, lowered revenue, and the changing business environment in Oakland- and actually communicated with their employees- there wouldn't be an issue.

That has been a continuing story with BB forever.

The company is saying that to the press, but this employee is saying something different.

I bet a lot of us would be interested in hearing about "the nadir of your career." Spill it! 😂

I liked her as a person and a co-worker. However her spoken values and taste in men did not match. I knew them both before they were married.

I was the second GM of Casbah after BB. That should narrow it down

What did they do to Monika? I loved that woman.

Seems to be a common theme in Pittsburgh. Employers turning people down because they don’t own a car… but what they fail to understand is some people who take the bus show up early and are less likely to get stuck in traffic because they would rather be early than late.

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You meant the busted piece of equipment or a person?

Look I don’t know what the case is with madmex but I do know there’s in issue with getting people who want to work and stay at food service industry in Pittsburgh.

Most food service jobs want part time for $10 an hour and that doesn’t really cut it anymore with the way inflation is. Not sure what their starting rate is here but livable wages are a good start to keep employees which in the restaurant industry seems to be an issue. If you’re going to pay a measly $10 an hour hire high schoolers not adults who have bills to pay… and then they get mad you’re not smiling enough at the customers who come in… or the manager will treat you like shit and yell at you while on their power trip and then have the nerve to complain about not having enough staff. Either that or you’re doing tasks outside your job description that you could get paid more for had you worked anywhere else. Lot of favoritism and drama for no good reason.

I can name two places that I worked at where the pay was low but everything else was fine in the food service industry. Those places kept their employees longer than places who treated them like trash. At least if you pay low wages be nice to your employees. But no they hire to fire at most places.

You just need to work as fast as possible so you get them more sales and not care about the quality of the customers orders as much (it’s taken into account just not as much as working fast is).

TLDR; nobody wants to work food service too much drama for not enough pay. Some managers are on a power trip. Everyone is miserable at most places.

Also in the US you can be fired without notice unfortunately. Sometimes you get fired so someone else can take your place for a lower starting wage and less hours. Better to have another side job to be on the safer side if you can (that would be unlikely or very difficult in college though as students need the time to focus on their studies). It’s a shame employers like to shift blame on anyone but themselves

I expect the bashing but we ate at that MadMex once when we lived in Oakland. Besides the service and drinx, never saw a reason to return, just boring stereotypical Mexican fare. I feel for the staff but that "restaurant group of burros" can collectively go fuck themselves.

At BB: I had a guy as a host who was pretty great at juggling tables and handling reservations.

Tom/Juno had a meeting with me one day about him. "We don't like how that guy looks on the door. Fire that guy and get a really hot chick!"

I didn't fire him, I sold him on another job.

I hired a woman who was super hot, who also had a part time job as a stripper. I'm not shaming her for stripping, that was just another job she had. She thought I didn't know she also stripped. I knew. She made one part of my job much easier because she was hot.

Oh, I agree 1000%. Expanding a business is no crime but to let employees go with no notice to do so is just crap. But it was Bill Fuller doing the interview and he isn’t exactly known for not talking out his ass.

They pushed her to retire. She wanted to stay on as a hostess and they wouldn’t let her. She left in tears. It was so sad.

That's terrible. She was beloved.

Sorry, I may have misunderstood. I thought you were working at Mex when it closed. I was curious as to what happened to one of their long standing employees, a dishwasher. But I also agree with you about these restaurants

She really was. She had some incredible stories and she was so loyal to them. Just goes to show you…..

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She makes clothing but Tom walks around the restaurants and touches things and makes the decisions. Lol

Every restaurant in Pittsburgh needs a union.

Right on the money.

How was it clear? Restaurant groups never share this info with the workers. How did you get that impression?

Stereotypical?

It's bland anglicized Mexican.

Fun fact: Big Burrito got a $10M PPP loan under one of their DBA names, specifically "Whole Enchilda."

They also fired their full staff at all of their specialty restaurants in July of 2000 for wanting safe working conditions in the height of COVID via an 11:30 PM email (meaning after closing that night).

Fuck 'em.

Quick to blame anyone but themselves. They could make an effort to change things and make the workplace better for so they can keep employees but they’re so stuck in their ways and either lack the self awareness or simply don’t have the capacity to care.

Flour

I felt the same way the first time I heard about Winchester Thurston, the private school. It's the snootiest sounding name, like it could be the school the evil rich kids go to in an 80's high school comedy.

The way that man talked about his wife made me want to throw up. If I had to hear about his sex life or his wife’s grooming habits one more time I would 🤮🤮 like grow up.

And the way he would talk about it in front of females to try to make them uncomfortable 🤢🤮

Exactly. Why live in the city of you want suburban food?

I used to get shit at a previous job for taking public transit to work despite owning a car. I just hate driving, ain't your fuckin' business.

It's just classism, that's all. Public transit is for poors around here. I haven't driven to work in twelve years and I've gotten shit from bosses and coworkers over it.

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Sorry. I was working very part time (couple times a month for a couple days) at another place that just closed with no warning.

I LIKE riding a bike. People are so fucking cultish. If you actually take a car off the road by biking or bussing and making their car commute that much easier, you are a weirdo and not to be trusted, but if all the bikers and biased drive cars in their club, the others would be mad and wonder why the others don’t bike/bus

I used to work at an office park in Robinson and take the bus in and my boss told me that I should "act my wage." Good shit.

What possible reason could I have to be mad? I’m never in Oakland anymore, and there’s plenty of adequate Mexican food around.

For you to be able to consolidate the worst occupational experience of your life into a 24-hour experience at Oakland Mad Mex, I was really hoping there was some juicy stuff behind it. Alas, my hopes were misplaced.

Thank you so very much for delivering on an interesting story where u/cheesy1229 could not. You redeemed this thread.

I really appreciated this follow-up. It makes me really question the long-term societal impacts of corporate sway over residential real-estate, a la the death of the American dream and all.

I definitely drank the BLS juice one too many times.

I just wanna throw it out there. Tom Baron was in the process of planning a dope going away/retirement party for her when the others in the company went over him and more or less fired her. When he found out he was sad and pissed but he couldn't do anything. If nothing else, he did care.

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July 2000? They really saw COVID coming.

I know what you’re saying. I’ve heard they suck and frankly I think mad mex is awful

I honestly had always thought that related strictly to corporations being able to donate in approximately the same manner as private citizens.

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they heard "bus" and didn't listen to a word i said after, many of which were strung together to point out that a bus picks up 50ft from my front door and drops off 2 blocks from the location.

*2020

I will 1000% agree to this and do appreciate you saying this. Big sucks and Tom may be… out of tune with a lot, but he did really care for her and honestly a lot of employees. He’s just… unhinged I think? Disengaged? And said/did some really screwed up things but Idk. But he did really care for her. (And others, despite the music thing lol) I just think all of them are just so out of tune. Minus Bill Fuller who is just a POS

Never said I worked at Mad Mex Oakland. No story. Just a garbage company.

That's ridiculous. Despite what so many people in the sub say because they always want to compare it to somewhere like Chicago or Boston, if you're in the city or inner ring suburbs, the bus service here is generally fine.

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Not that its needed, but can also confirm, though I haven't interacted with Bill in probably 8ish years, but I'll confirm he was always a complete tool. What an asshole.

Clearly, everyone who's downvoted has never checked someone's LinkedIn profile before interviewing them.

"Oh, someone who really enjoys beefing with his part-time employer? HARD PASS."

Y

If it’s any consolation, I had Taco Bell value menu last night for dinner, and it was awesome.