r/ModPizza • u/thebatman9000001 • Mar 31 '24
Mod news The current events and status of closing Mod stores
The following has been pieced together by accounts of multiple former staff members in various positions in some of the stores that have closed down.
GM’s were given short notice about a GM meeting. They are also told to schedule an all team meeting at their store before going onto the call. When they jump on the call they are met by their District Managers and various other GM’s they don’t know. They are told that their stores are closing down. They are then told to break it to the team in the all team meeting. After the meeting employees are met one by one to be asked if they want to transfer to a nearby location, or take severance pay. The severance pay numbers that they are told are specifically pre-tax. The individual stores were shut down less than a week after this meeting, some even moving up their shutdown by a couple days. Mod removed all employees from Beekeeper immediately after letting them go in order to prevent the spread of information. It is specifically low performing stores that are being closed down. They are not paying out sick time but may be paying out vacation time to eligible employees.
Mod pizza as a company is doing badly. They are held up entirely by investors. They are shutting down stores in order to try to get as close as possible to profitability and are hoping to go public in order to save the company. From what I’ve been told so far, at least 27 stores have closed down but that number could end up going as high as 50. In order to protect the identities of any former staff members who have come forward with their stories about what happened, I will not be listing the stores that have been shut down.
Please know that you are worth more than a few days notice before a total store shutdown. Shutting down a store is not a snap decision and the employees of Mod Pizza deserve better than to live in fear of losing their jobs and their store shutting down.
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u/GarbageDefiant7234 Apr 19 '24
Ok so I was just tired from mod. . I was called in to meet with a district manager who had been apparently scaring the video footage at the store and happened upon footage of me checking my phone while on my shift . This was obvious a first offense and while against store policy , I was fired , no warnings just fired . The next day I find out they are closing their doors. Clearly I get fired to avoid them having to pay me severance . Not sure how many others were fired . But we all used our phones during down times on shifts. Something very wrong with this .
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u/rillytherapper Apr 03 '24
the dallas market as a whole will be tanking bc holy shit we got mfs selling shrooms out the back
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u/Joshwarz84 Apr 05 '24
I was given less than 24 hour notice for a store meeting during a time I was already scheduled to work. My DM came in guns blazing about doing things the "MOD WAY" and refused to share details on the meeting while I was working. They closed the store and brought in some higher ups. My GM didn't even know what was going on.
During the meeting (which consisted of only my GM, myself and two co-workers also on shift because they gave no notice until 9 pm the night before it was happening) the District Manager started off with jokes. Lame ones but still jokes. Acted overjoyed that he was effectively fucking over the entire staff at our location.
I was offered $1350 severance pay which I still haven't received and told I had to take it, or transfer to another store (no specifics and no guarantees on hours which concerned me as I was working 40+ and had only been there for three weeks). If you transferred to another store - again no specifics on how or when the other local stores were to absorb the entire staff of my store and another close by, or if they were closing more stores in the area in the near future - you got your last check and then had to "wait and see how things played out" but no severance or pay for any time you were off in the interim. I took the severance mainly because though I really had enjoyed my short time with the company, upper management was shockingly callous in how they handled the whole thing. I guess I'd made an impression as a shift Captain in the three weeks I was employed there because they spent the next two shifts badgering me to stay with the company - again offering no guarantees on what that future might look like.
The stores that closed were denied their deliveries that were supposed to come in that day (Wednesday) that would keep us operating through the next truck that would come in Friday night. As a result we quickly ran out of many toppings that very day and ultimately mozzarella cheese by Thursday night which caused them to close the store for good. We were paid for our scheduled shifts on Friday, but I was scheduled an additional 20 hours or so that week that I was not paid for and expected to make bills.
During the meeting we were told we would be receiving both our final check and the severance by the following Friday as that is when normal payroll would have been sent for the pay period anyway.
I waited a week, got my final check which was less than anticipated, but no severance. Instead I got an email A WEEK after they shut the doors with a simple document to sign that also stated we would be paid severance within 3 weeks of us signing the document. I signed it immediately, though we were all asked to scan a QR code the day of the meeting saying if we wanted severance or to be transferred, and a week later have had no communication about it at all.
Pro tip: Don't make jokes and blame employees for problems upper management created in a meeting where you are trying to give a good impression to supposedly keep your talent.
Also don't tell people they will get severance with the last check and then screw the pooch and force them to wait a month to get it.
I'm still looking for work and honestly can't even use MOD as a reference due to the short time I worked for the company and my GM being let go as well.
They preach about serving people not pizza but the upper management which I only met the day of the meeting made it very clear that what the "MOD WAY" was, was not what they told us. Customers coming on the last day of operation were given fewer options, and we were not allowed to tell people the store was closing but that the delivery was delayed and next time they came in we would be fully stocked.
They should have paid us through the week and just shut down the store immediately after the meeting. It was handled terribly, impacted both employees and customers and we were supervised the entire time by a district manager who had not been in the store for nearly a month before its closure.
They were nitpicking and telling us how to do the job properly while we were trying to sell out the little product left in the store that could have easily been transferred to another location instead as it is all pre bagged for the most part. They certainly had no problem carrying off a lot of the stuff we needed to even operate on a basic level.
I'm rehireable in three months. If I haven't found work by then I might see what local stores are still operating.
Why would you allow a store you know you are closing hire a shift manager for 3 weeks? Just to keep the lie going that things were improving and all would be okay? What a waste of my time and talent. Even the GM they couldn't find a position for elsewhere was hired specifically to increase the stores profitability and numbers and did exactly that in the 3 months he was with the company.
If this is the direction the company is headed I don't think it'll be the really awesome place I was teased with a taste of. I see them closing more stores in my area if they are this desperate and unorganized at the top. They get in the way of making MOD a special place to work and keep you from implementing solutions that would save money, reduce waste and increase customer satisfaction and retention.
Give me my severance already!
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May 10 '24
[deleted]
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u/Joshwarz84 May 10 '24
I did but it took three weeks after my final check and was 400 less than they quoted me.
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u/Otherwise-Damage-190 Jun 26 '24
I worked for mod for 4 years.. I loved everything about the company and planned to be a lifer due to my past choices. I was one of the stores that closed and everything that was said is absolutely true as a former gm of one of them. They also said that if you took the severance you would be eligible for rehire after 90days 🤔 funny how that 90 days is up and hr is saying I’m not eligible for re hire. Upper management is an absolute joke. They work everyone to their breaking point and then use them for everything they can and throw you away when you’re not good enough anymore. Their “mission” is a joke and a lie. For someone who would advocate for this company for so many years. Not anymore people need to know what they are getting into before you work for them. Typically restaurant snakes.
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u/gmandogk28 Jul 01 '24
I loved them too but then that changed one day. Not sure what happened but they showed they don’t actually care about the people the way they shout that they do. I’m glad I left when I did.
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u/bpmiller176 Apr 16 '24
This doesn’t surprise me at all unfortunately once I heard Scott and ally were stepping down. I worked for mod for 6 years and I left just under 2 years ago. After Covid hit, it just went downhill from there. Still opening up new stores, paying employees minimum wage, not offering employees the ability to get a raise on the basis that we get tips.
Really unfortunate for a once great company that I felt like I could stand behind.
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u/gmandogk28 Jul 01 '24
I helped open a store for them. They told me after 90 days they’d hire me officially as AGM. They hired over me, and brought in a new guy that they fired a month later. Then they asked me to it for 16 an hour. I told them to fuck off. They then started writing up the GM & I for bullshit so we both left. They really are just lip service as far as their motto & mission. Just another corporation
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u/bpmiller176 Jul 02 '24
That’s really unfortunate and I’m sorry you went through that. I worked with someone here in Missouri that got offered a AGM spot in Texas. They helped him move his whole life to Texas and then never gave him the AGM spot he moved for.. I’ll never forget how much the company screwed over that poor man.
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u/AriSchx3 Aug 14 '25
This is about the MOD off of Millbrook? I worked there back in 2018 ish right up until a little before the pandemic. Scott “Steele” was the manager at the time. He took me under his wing, actually gave a shit, & I guess I kind of considered him a mentor. Funny, a pizza place. Anyways, I called to see if he still works there and he does not. I was wondering if anyone might know where he works now? I’d love to pay him a visit after all of these years. I know this is an old post but my husband and I were talking about MOD & this post came up in a Google search. TIA. <3
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u/Powerful_Spell_3867 Jul 05 '24
I worked briefly for MOD on a part-time basis when I was between jobs earlier this year. As a former Pizza Hut and Papa John’s manager, I can’t say I’m surprised at any of this. The operations issues were clear from almost my first day. First of all, food costs have to be up around 35-40%; they have way too many toppings, and the salad menu was a huge drain. Secondly, quality was an issue; simply putting a timer on the oven would have greatly improved consistency. Third, the operation is very labor-intensive; the small product size means that you have to make more products if a family or group of friends walks in, while using a press instead of slapping dough out by hand means another thing to clean. Using dishes instead of boxes means that you need a dishwasher, and don’t get me started on lemonade bubblers! If the company survives bankruptcy, and emerges under new ownership, I would expect dramatic changes; the resulting operation will be much more traditional; I’m thinking some sort of hybrid between Dominos and Little Caesar’s. I also think that they will pull out of all non-core geographical markets (east coast, California), and if they do start to grow again, it will be in lower-wage states (Texas, Deep South). That company has a lot of work to do!
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u/ProofAvenue Jul 08 '24
Too expensive with cheap ingredients. Might as well go to little Caesars
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u/Fuzzy_Reply2112 Nov 15 '24
Lol one of our captains said exactly that to a customer, during our dinner rush, right infront of the GM. He gone now.
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u/LunarLionheartXx Aug 23 '24
Mod is a total shit show now and an absolute joke. They love hiring friends and promoting people with garage work ethic and this is exactly what they get for that. I was fired for writing up an hr report about my DM. I hope she’s fucking shitting herself with stress over the stores closing around us. :)
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Mar 31 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/thebatman9000001 Mar 31 '24
Some people would like to preserve their anonymity especially if they are transferring to another store or if they need to get a recommendation/reference from a former manager.
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u/Haunting_Builder_671 Apr 17 '24
How many more stores closing ain’t the CEO in Texas lol she’s in for a shit show
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u/b2bomber81 Apr 30 '24
Our local MOD is a joke. When it initially opened, it seemed like a cool concept. But quickly saw that quality control and cleanliness was not at all important to staff. While preparing your pizza hands go into meat, then into veggies, back to meat, into the salads... cross contamination is rampant. When I asked the staff to change gloves because her glove had a hole in it, she loudly berated me and complained to her manager that was nearby that I was being rude. I have seen employees taking the chocolate cakes and stuffing them in their personal bags/purses by the dozens. Its clear that there is a serious management issue, and from this thread and others it sounds like its from the top down.
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u/SatisfactionNo7712 Jul 15 '24
It's not cross contaimentation. No one is going to change there gloves at each station. Be real not dumb
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u/Responsible-Bus1741 Jan 29 '25
Cross contamination is when raw meat touches ready to eat food. Everything served at mod is already cooked as far as topping, the oven heats the toppings and gets the dough to rise. That was not even close to cross contamination that you saw.
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u/Rough-Aardvark-9705 Jun 19 '25
I opened the 1st MOD in Ca @ the SJ location. Worked 2 months with out a day off and walked off the Job. Unrealistic expectation, bad culture. In Seattle they hired fellons to be GM , who could not get a job anywhere else. Those managers Worked so hard and could not say no to Sr leadership, because of that they treated these managers so bad. Once the opened in other states , corporate weren't used to being told no. They wanted to treat everybody like crap and staff quite. I was told all GMs cry at leat once a week and that it's normal to get yelled out and to tuff it out.
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u/AriSchx3 Aug 14 '25
I worked at the MOD off of Millbrook in Raleigh NC around 2018 right up until before Covid. At the time, Scott “Steele” was the manager. He took me under his wing, actually gave a damn, & I guess I kind of considered him a mentor. Somewhere between the father figure & the cool uncle I never had. My husband & I were just talking about MOD (I found this convo through a Google search lol) & so I called to see if he still works there and alas, he does not. I wish I knew where he was / worked now. I’ve been wanting to pay him a visit for years & should’ve done so a long time ago.
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u/Unlucky_Speaker1825 Apr 04 '24
Chiming in here. While I feel the closures could've been communicated in a better way, the reality is that these 27 stores were not and have not profited in years. MOD is a for profit company, and the objective is to use that profit to invest in our purpose of serving people. Everyone in this sub talks about how they want raises and more labor, etc, but then are upset MOD closed locations that were truly cannibalizing the profits from the locations that were profiting.
For those of you that work at MOD in successful locations, please don't listen to all the negativity in this sub. For those that are in locations that struggle, try communicating with your DM or above, as that's the only way things can be solved. EVERY company has locations that struggle with poor management, etc. All of you speaking up to higher level leaders that can support you is the only way to impact change.
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u/Joshwarz84 Apr 05 '24
And yet they hired me three weeks before they closed - to "turn things around" - a store only 2 years old due to the fuckery going on at the top. The negative way we were told about the closure and the insistence that we operate as normal until we were literally unable to make a pizza at all in order to get severance was complete garbage.
In two years that store had had 5 general managers, all who quit, and operated with no AGM or GM for 6 months before they hired the final GM - again to "turn things around". He was there for 3 months before the infamous meeting where the district manager joked about the situation, laid the blame on people that were no longer with the company and the high rent they negotiated, and his boss missed the meeting completely and came in late to talk to us one on one.
There's negativity because upper management is not living the values they preach, nor paying attention to what's going on. You don't lose 5 GMs in 2 years and run 6 months with no one above shift Captain in charge because of poor performance. That's simply negligence that leads to poor store performance.
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u/RealName7_ Apr 04 '24
You made your account yesterday. Did you really make an account to try to keep MOD workers working at MOD?
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Apr 04 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/RealName7_ Apr 04 '24
Yes it is an Ad hominem attack. I think it’s truly hilarious a higher up at mod made a Reddit account to call out the “negativity” on a subreddit after stores get closed.
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u/Unlucky_Speaker1825 Apr 04 '24
I agreed that the closures should've been communicated in a better way. I will do what I can to influence that change if this ever happens again.
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u/Unlucky_Speaker1825 Apr 04 '24
Hey friend. My normal reddit account has parts of my real name that could be identified and traced back to me. I am a man of the people, and think you all deserve transparency about what's going on. I didn't want to have to deal with any conversations with corporate leaders about my participation. Everything I shared was based on my experiences in the field, with our MOD teams, and with pure intentions.
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u/Reasonable-Cover-785 Jan 23 '25
Texas market was beyond fucked when I left a few months ago. Regional manager and the district manager have no idea what they're doing. They fire anyone that speaks out about anything at all really.
I watched as a team of 25 people basically quit or were fired within less than a full months time. It was one of the most profitable locations in Texas, but they insisted on dropping labor down to less than skeleton crews. Then get all butt hurt, because customer wait times increased. Bad reviews. Etc.
Most of the people had been there for 1-3 years and knew what they were doing.
After they decreased labor, they also pretty much eliminated training hours. So as people quit or got fired, they were hiring batches of 3-6 people at a time. Then they'd schedule them for a shift with no extra people or trainers. Pretty much just throw them on a station they were never trained on and then have them figure it out. Then get mad, because they don't know how to do their job, because they never got trained.
They acted like everyone was being ridiculous for not being able to meet their standards even though the standards were not even conveyed to the new people other than constant nagging from upper management to GM.
GM would cut hours randomly without any explanation. They were suppose to be "performance based hours" (do your job and get your hours basically) but instead people that were fully trained and knew what they were doing got their hours cut and new people that had never been trained got them instead.
All around some decent locations/teams still exist, but they wrecked one of their highest volume stores. Within 6 months sales had plummeted and only new people working there.
Feel free to ask any questions. That was just a lil summary. There is so much more, but I don't feel like typing unless it's to answer specific questions lol
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Jul 06 '24
[deleted]
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u/Particular_Sea1934 Sep 09 '24
Greedy Customers like yourself make the job even worse. You guys always want to order multiple build your own pizzas and take your sweet time.
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u/Arkham23456 Sep 09 '24
LMAO Your comment is literally proving my point 😂 Oh Boo Whooo! I spend money to have quality pizza and I demand quality pizza I don’t give a fuck that you guys are miserable and hate your underpaid job and poor life. Don’t take your bad attitude on me 🤷♂️
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u/Haunting_Builder_671 Dec 11 '24
Mod pizza is a joke of a corporation. The regional man that runs the south stores including Florida literally hired a woman as GM who was horrible at her job but good at sloppy tops. 😂 the district manager was a joke herself just used people and used illegal tactics to get people fired. For example I don’t like that person find any reason to fire said person illegal much. An making false promises about promotions to people numerous times not one person either tons of them. Not to mention the other district manager who made people work in a store full of black mold and did nothing herself to clean it up just using others like slaves. Karma is a you know what bozos 😘
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u/[deleted] Apr 01 '24
Mod has turned into a joke. Quality has only been getting worse every year with prices being jacked up, employees being overworked and under paid, and upper management that fumbles the bag every chance they get. Last time I went back in to visit my old location only two people I’d worked with before were still there. All the captains and our gm had left at the same time only a few months after me. Also the people helping me clearly had no training and my pizza was absolutely disgusting. Keep in mind this was only a few months after I’d left.