IAmA Little Caesar's employee at work right now. AMA!

How does it feel to know you're better at PR than Woody Harrelson?

Haha! Thank you! I enjoy my job at the moment.

how is that new bacon deep dish pizza? i've been wanting to try it.

It's delicious! But between you and me... Not worth 12 bucks!

say you split it with a friend very drunkenly... would it then be worth the 6 dollars?

Haha yes, actually!

In your total career, how many times have customers tried to pull the "I'm the manager/owner's husband/wife and I want a free meal" on you?

I've never had that happen! But we ALWAYS get customers who feel entitled to free stuff because they buy 10 pizzas. Once had a lady come in for 15 pizzas and ask, "How many free sodas do I get?"

What do you do with the leftover pizza at the end of the night?

We're supposed to toss it out. Sometimes we'll eat it here at the store. We're not allowed to take anything home, and most people don't because most stores have cameras.

Edit: typo

My roommates and I go to little Caesars when they close and grab the bag as soon as the employees throw it out. Lots of free pizza

From the trash??? Sometimes if someone comes in after we close and the registers are closed down, we'll give them a bag of bread or something leftover.

You can't bring anything home? Seems a little extreme.

Nope, my bosses have told me because people will "accidentally" make too much pizza and take it home when it doesn't sell.

I love LC $5 hot n readies. What's the actual cost to make?

The cost fluctuates because of food prices, but if I remember correctly, it's between $2.00-$2.50 for a pepperoni pizza!

What kind of pizza would you recommend for someone who is trying to lose some weight?

No pizza :( sorry :(

What's the most number of pizzas someone bought on one order? And did they pre-order it?

Biggest order I've made was 128 pizzas, all pepperoni, all for a church. They called about 5 days ahead. Honestly, it was a fun challenge to make them all!

How did you do that? Like you would have to make some hours/days in advanced. Wouldn't they be gross by then?

Actually, the pizzas only take about 7 minutes to cook, and we can fit 15-20 pizzas in our ovens at once, so the time from the first pizza coming out of the oven to the last was about 30-45 minutes. (:

Did they tip?

Nope! But even if they did, we're not allowed to accept tips.

Could you tell me what has been the longest holding time for a single pizza before you guys noticed it was supposed to be thrown out in the waste/garbage?

Well company policy says to throw all pizzas away after 30 minutes. Longest I've seen was maybe an hour?

Why is it then every little caesars right before closing it seems like every pizza was there since 2PM?

Maybe the employees there are lazy and don't put in fresh pizzas? Sounds like a possible reason why to me

Hw long can you work at Little Caeser's before you get sick of pizza?

It can get old after a while. At first, I'd have pizza 3-4 times a week, but now it's more like once every week or 2.

What is the bizarrest thing you've seen at work?

Creepiest thing at work was probably someone who was just really suspicious. Older man came into the store, a young female cashier was up front. He was VERY flirty, telling her about his success and money. He only ordered 3 pizzas, but asked for "help to his car."

The cashier was very uncomfortable, so she asked me to go for her. When I went to help him out, I saw that he parked ALLLL the way behind the store in s different parking lot. He quietly said "thanks" and took off after.

Not sure if he was planning anything bad, but it was definitely a weird experience.

I used to work at a small town pizzeria with very high prices. everything was made in the store so it got quite pricey. that being said, how can little Caesars sell a decently sized pizza and still profit?

I read somewhere that LC has some of the highest margins in the food business. I don't remember the numbers but they can make them CHEAP. I'll try to find the article.

To put it in perspective, it costs about 21 cents to make a bag of crazy bread!

Are there any major corners cut in the making of the pizza? What should we look out for?

Actually no! You'd be surprised at how we make out pizzas! We make our dough fresh the day before, by hand, make our sauce daily, order fresh toppings, and don't keep our pizzas for long after they're cooked. I'd say our practices are pretty good.

So your dough is never frozen?

Unless it's changed from when I worked there, They actually make it in store, put it in the fridge, then stretch it out through a machine that puts it to about the right size for the pans and then hand stretch it a tiny bit more. Only things that are kept frozen are the meats and thats only because they come frozen on the trucks. There may have been other things in the freezer but it's been like 4 years now, and I definitely remember making that dough every night. Worst part of the job

You're exactly right, never frozen except wings!

And yes, dough is a pain in the ass, especially if you're slow at it like me! :(

What position (or station, whatever you want to call it)are you the best at? Worst? Favorite? How many carts of dough do you have to make on average and how quickly can you do them?

I'm probably fastest on landing! (If you know what that is.) I'm honestly really slow at dough! It'll take me 40 minutes on average for a cart, I do like 7-minute batches usually.

Edit: the number of carts we make depends on sales! $1,000 in sales is about one cart of dough (:

Double slicers for double the fun! I was a shift lead for about 6 months before I moved out of state and my crew looked at me crazy when I would volunteer to handle landing by myself on a friday night. Best place to be really.

Double cutters, I don't know too many people who can do that! Haha but yes, landing is a lot of fun!

Do you feel adequately compensated for your work?

Would you ever consider becoming an owner of a Little Caesar's?

Interesting question. I believe as a crew member, or assistant manager, the pay is enough for what we do, the job isn't hard.

However, I worked as a co-manager from November until March, full time. I worked 40-50 hours a week, at $12 an hour. The paychecks were nice (I'm 19 years old) but the job becomes exponentially more stressful. Expectations include normal operational duties (food prep, etc), making schedules, ordering food, managing employees, controlling labor costs, etc.

Obviously the responsibilities come with a pay raise, but the experience I had was not pleasant. I was constantly working overtime/double overtime, mostly due to lower-level employees calling off, I was always under pressure from my supervisor, and overall, I felt like the time and energy I gave to the job wasn't worth the pay.

Now, this was all at corporate stores. I'm now at a franchise store as an assistant manager, and I'm loving it! Sure, I'm making less than I did as a Co, but the extra time for school and a social life is well worth it for someone my age. Thanks for the question!

Edit: a word.

If you could make or recommend any combination from LC what would it be?

Bacon, pineapple, jalapeños, and if the store carries it, chicken! Delicious combination!

We have 5 Little Caesar's here in my little city of 5 million. What are we missing out on by not having more of this great franchise?

I guess value? It's not the most AMAZING pizza, but it'll feed a couple of people for 5 bucks!

What's your honest opinion on the pizza itself?

It's not bad at all, honestly! It's best when it's fresh out of the oven! You can always ask for a fresh pizza if you're willing to wait 5-10 minutes

which chain pizza would you rather order from than Little Caesar's?

Well my FAVORITE is a small pizza chain called Petrillo's in Southern California. But I guess for famous ones, Pizza Hut is alright!

Petrillo's is so good!

Yes!! Just had some this past Thursday!

Slow night? :)

Yep, we've made $600 dollars since we opened at 11am today...

What is it on a good day?

Well every store is different! I've worked at a store that makes $13,000 a week, and one that makes $28,000 a week! The store I'm at now is a slow store haha

Of the 13-28k, what's left over as profit after all the expenses?

I'm honestly not too sure! I know a huge chunk goes to ordering food! My weekly food orders would sometimes hit $6,000 dollars! Plus labor takes away 15-25% of our revenue. So we do have a lot of costs to cover.

Edit: typo

Are there any secret menu items?

You mean like asking for a pizza with no dough?

Not sure how we'd make that...

Former employee here, what were your thoughts on finding out how the sauce was made?

It's nothing too special, I think. Making it can be a chore, but the steps are simple and it doesn't seem to have anything bad in it (:

how many orders have you screwed up and what's the worst thing a pissed off customer ever said or did about it?

Mistakes happen sometimes, I've messed up plenty of orders in the 2+ years I've been working for the company. Worst I've seen was just customers yelling, demanding the number to corporate. One guy started cursing out an employee because he waited 15 minutes for 10 pizzas. Had to calm him down, wasn't fun!

How can I get the mythical stuffed crust? Is it only available in specific stores?

I've actually never seen a stuffed crust pizza sold! One time we made one for ourselves in the back of the store, but none of us really knew how to make it nice. If you know any store that sells it, I'd love to hear about it! (:

Can I have a free pizza?

Sure! Come to Southern California!

I live in Wisconsin....

It's okay, I'll deliver.

Will pretzel crust pizza ever come back to LC??

Not sure, customers seemed to like it, but the big bosses don't tell us anything. I would imagine if they did, it'll probably be in the fall? Don't take my word for it though.

Why did you take pretzel crust away?

The pretzel crust was seasonal, actually! It was supposed to end after Halloween, but if I remember correctly, we kept rolling it out until late November/December.

What is the worse pizza you have ate from LC? And what is your lest favorite pizza chain?

Veggie pizza is my least favorite, not a fan of black olives! And dominoes is probably my least favorite, I don't like their crust at all.

Same here on both of those also what was your opinion on the "pretzel" pizza?

Pretzel pizza was delicious! But a pain in the ass to make!

Hello! Whats the highest number of pizza that have been ordered at one time?

Answered this earlier, was an order for 128 pizzas!

Would you voluntarily eat the pizza made at LC?

At most stores, it's not as bad as people say actually. At least I think so.

How many times have you put hair and nails in the pizza? and where in southern cali do you work at?

Never! That's horrible! And I can't say exactly where, cause if by some rare chance a boss finds out, I might be in trouble. But it's near the Azusa area!

Why would you do an AMA?

Because there's not much else to do!