Many Positions Available
Mellow Mushroom operates as a popular, nationwide pizza chain with roughly 150 locations across the U.S. Most locations feature bars in addition to general dining areas, which provides ample opportunity for job seekers.
Interview Experiences Vary
Applicants looking for work for the company undergo varying experiences when attending job interviews. The most common types of Mellow Mushroom interviews include formats using one manager to one applicant. Job seekers may need to participate in multiple interviews to gain employment. Positions like bartender and managerial roles often require more than one interview. Servers sometimes take menu quizzes and personality tests during the interview process, in addition to completing 1:1 interviews.
Mellow Mushroom Interview Questions
Regardless of position, interview questions hover around the concepts of good customer service, food safety, and restaurant operations. A candidate may respond to, "Have you ever worked for a pizzeria before?" Additional interview questions used in Mellow Mushroom job interviews include: "Are you put off by interacting with disgruntled or angry customers?" and "Are you available to work weekends or nights?" Hiring managers generally probe into past jobs as standard procedure and ask applicants about personal interests, hobbies, and/or accomplishments, as well.
Common Experiences
Typically brief and informal, Mellow Mushroom interviews feature casual and laid-back atmospheres. Applicants should attend each session ready to spend at least 20 minutes to a half hour with a hiring representative. Act in a respectable and confident manner.
Be Outgoing and Personable
The Mellow Mushroom hiring process regularly rewards applicants for outgoing and personable behavior. Talk freely but on-subject when presented with interview questions. Tying in personal knowledge of making pizzas, restaurant operations, or the pizza industry in general greatly influences hiring staff and may lead to a job offer on the spot.
Job Offers
Many Mellow Mushroom applicants are hired immediately at the deciding job interview; however, some applicants may need to inquire about the best time to follow up with the pizzeria to check on hiring status.
Mellow Mushroom Host Interview Video
Video Transcript
Interviewer: Please describe your job title and primary duties.
Mellow Mushroom Host: I was a host, so I would come in each day, and then I would do whatever the manager wanted me to do. Normally, there’s a checklist: stack the to-go boxes, wipe the tables down, clean the counters off, bus the table if the table hadn’t been bussed. I was just a host. I sat people down when there was a table that was clean, got them refills on drinks if they needed it, and told people where their table was.
Interviewer: What was the work environment like?
Mellow Mushroom Host: It was really laidback. We were allowed to wear jeans and a t-shirt. We had to remember that people weren’t coming here for an uptight, classy restaurant, they are here to have fun, relax, have dinner with the family, so we had to be personable. The waiters were all nice. They obviously want their tables. So it was this kind of “don’t mess up” thing. They coached me on what to do, and apart from Fridays and Saturday nights, when it would get really packed or on-edge, it was great. I had no problems. It was a great time working there.
Interviewer: Please describe a typical day as an employee.
Mellow Mushroom Host: When you come in, like I said, you do the basic chores: folding boxes, bussing a table. When all the boxes were folded and there was nothing to be done, my main priority was manning the register, doing to-go orders. I also did odd jobs, like clean a window, bus tables, clean the bathroom – I did that before closing every night – take out the garbage can, and just odds and ends, basic chores. If someone needed help serving food, you served that person food. If someone needed to pay for something… you basically facilitated employees that are overwhelmed. It was an aide kind of job. I did odds and ends with everything.
Interviewer: How would you describe the application and interview process?
Mellow Mushroom Host: I knew the manager. I wanted a job for the summer, and I knew the manager. He said you need to fill out an online application. So I went online, found the place, filled it out, then he said that because he knew me, he didn’t require a personal interview, because he felt like he knew me well enough. But I guess if he didn’t know the person well enough, he would have required an interview. But he was like: “Show up. I know you’re respectful, you’ll be on time, you’ll do your job, have a good work ethic.” Show up in jeans and a Mellow Mushroom t-shirt, which they gave me, and just go to work.
Interviewer: What questions did the interviewer ask during the job interview?
Mellow Mushroom Host: They wanted to make sure that you were personable, because that job is very socially oriented. They wanted to make sure you could talk to customers, you could handle a to-go order. You couldn’t get overwhelmed or stressed out easily, because Friday and Saturday nights at any restaurant are pretty packed. They wanted to make sure you could be very calm, you could say: “Okay, you’re next,” and clean off the table, multitask, and just be social. Don’t be socially awkward. Just try to relax, because it’s a relaxing environment. If you’re on edge, then the customers become on edge. So, make sure you have basic social skills and you can conduct yourself and put yourself in a polite manner.
Interviewer: What set you apart from other candidates?
Mellow Mushroom Host: I feel like I have good personality. I’m very good at speaking to other people, like strangers. I am truly interested in how are you feeling. It’s not like a facade; it’s not a fake personality. I am truly interested. There was no awkward tension with the boss. I have worked at other places as well, and when I meet the boss – that’s your boss, you can’t be scared of him all the time. You have to be able to talk to him and communicate, like: “What do you want done, what do you need me to do?” I feel like my personality, and also I had a good reputation built with my work ethic and what other people said – “Brett’s a good guy,” and that kind of stuff. So, just good character and stuff.
Interviewer: What other advice would you give to a job seeker looking to gain employment?
Mellow Mushroom Host: You’re going to experience… working in the food industry in general, you’re going to experience a lot of diversity and you’re also going to experience a lot of stress almost. You don’t know what it’s like to work in the food industry unless you have worked in the food industry. So until you realize, you might not think you’re doing anything wrong, but a customer might have a problem with you, or they might think you had an attitude. And you don’t think he might’ve had that. Remember you can’t win everyone over, just go into it knowing you’re doing your best, and just be expecting that you are going to have stressful nights, and you’re going to have a lot of good times as well. Not every night is going to be a piece of cake with nothing to do. You are going to rush times, and you’re going to experience different groups of people. Rude people exist, and people aren’t clean all the time, so you’re just going to have to deal with different types of people.
Mellow Mushroom Cook Interview Video
Video Transcript
Interviewer: Please describe your job title and primary duties.
Mellow Mushroom Cook: I was part of the kitchen staff, basically I was a pizza maker, salad maker, hoagie maker. Whatever they needed to be made I made it when a ticket came up. I started off on pizza and ovens, and so when I was trained on that I went over to salad. Then I went and did hoagie last and now I kind of, whenever I’m in the kitchen I make whatever needs to be made. If we need somebody on any one of the stations I can do it. Additionally, at the end of the night it’s a lot of cleaning. We have to flip all of the ingredients into a new container for health code reasons, and clean every surface and every drawer. All the floors in the back. That’s all kitchen staff duty. Additionally sometimes you’ll be asked to do dish if you’re accepting to that, which is just washing dishes all night. You have to clean out the dish room and clean that out before the end of the night. That’s pretty much it.
Interviewer: What was the work environment like?
Mellow Mushroom Cook: You’re always doing something. The saying is, “If you have time to lean, you have time to clean”. If you’re standing around doing nothing someone is going to tell you to do something. You have to be pretty much going nonstop from when you start to when you end, and if you take a water break or a smoke break or whatever you can only do it for so long. Generally you’re trying to get back as soon as you can.
Interviewer: How would you describe the application and interview process?
Mellow Mushroom Cook: There’s a bunch of jokes on the application, on the Mellow Mushroom application. I think their goal is to try and make it seem like they’re more laid back and friendly. There’s a bunch of “Tell us your favorite joke”, on the application, or “draw a comic”, that sort of thing. When I handed the application in the general manager looked it over, and when I eventually got an interview with the back of the house manager- There’s a general manager, a front of the house manager, and there’s a back of the house manager. When I got an interview with the back of house manager, he said that he wanted to walk me through the application that I sent in because just to get a more one on one experience. It became very clear that he actually didn’t read the application at all. He was just doing that so he wouldn’t have to do the work beforehand, and just did it right there while I was sitting right there.
Interviewer: What questions did the interviewer ask during the job interview?
Mellow Mushroom Cook: It was mostly about, “Can you handle a fast paced environment? How do you deal with stress? Have you worked in a kitchen before?”, that’s actually usually the first question because this was the first place that- I think he was tentative about hiring me because I hadn’t worked in a kitchen before, because it’s hard work. I don’t think people understand who hard it is until you get there and actually do it. It’s kind of nonstop, and the level of stuff that you’re expected to do is high for what a minimum wage job is.
Interviewer: How were you notified that you received the job?
Mellow Mushroom Cook: He told me on the spot that I got the job, when I had that back of the house interview. He scheduled me for the next week and then I started, but it was slow. There’s a lot of things to learn back there so I started on ovens, but they don’t need an oven guy every day. They need an oven guy maybe Friday and Saturday. I slowly learned the pizzas and stuff and as it went by I started with maybe 10 hours, then I moved up to more and more as the time went by. I had about 30 hours before I started school again. That’s kind of how it went all summer.
Interviewer: What other advice would you give to a job seeker looking to gain employment?
Mellow Mushroom Cook: If you’re looking for a server position, they’re looking for laid back people. If you’re looking for the kitchen, they’re looking for hard workers. If you’re a hard worker and you can demonstrate that to them. Say things about your previous job experience or your school experience that was something difficult and stressful and you managed to keep a level head about it, then they’ll like that.
