Chef Koochooloo Reviews

Pros

Remote work and friendly coworkers

Cons

Layla often does not pay her employees and therefore does not retain them. She is constantly cycling through employees, having them work for free (which they don't realize) until they quit out of frustration. Many of them are foreign and working remotely and are not able, don't feel comfortable, or simply do not have the funds to take her to court. She requires them to subscribe to her online educational platform (in the guise of having them see what the customer sees so as to edit it) and then refuses to cancel their subscriptions. I am still paying for mine, as she refuses to cancel (there is no support team - it's her), so I am in the process of talking to an Attorney General in CA. Additionally, part of her employees' jobs is to go on employment sites to write stellar reviews about the company. She also has them go on Amazon to give her books 4-star reviews. I am currently an educator who is also in the process of receiving an Ed.D. from Vanderbilt University. From an educational perspective, she has young children doing experiments that are not tested with content that is not cited and is often plain incorrect. She has applicants to her company write the content for free, and she adds it to the platform without seeing if any of it is correct or safe. This is concerning.

Pros

Opportunity to grow my resume A LOT in a short amount of time. I have better emotional regulation, management of self, expectations, etc. for having worked here. You definitely develop a backbone if you stay a while. Self-starters will learn a range of new things here (at the cost of their sanity).

Cons

Layla has unrealistic standards that I played into prior to the age of quiet quitting simply because I was a fresh grad in the age of COVID and I didn't know any better. Quiet quitting wouldn't have worked here, though. Every day was something new, which was only exciting until I started getting squeezed; I've never worked harder than I have here. Layla's timesheets are incredibly counterproductive—you'll find yourself logging every five minutes of your day, ultimately pulling from your productivity—as you navigate a web of unique and novel tasks. I cried daily from the stresses and pressures I faced at Chef Koochooloo—and to my knowledge, I lasted one of the longest at 6+ months. I never faced troubles getting paid, but I watched plenty of coworkers fight for their checks. Eventually, I'd read one too many emails from sweetheart coworkers (or unpaid interns 🥺) fed up and leaving, I decided I had enough too.

Pros

Friendly coworkers, suffering together makes you feel a little closer to each other

Cons

The CEO was manipulative and made it sound like you did not do the work she wanted you to do it. She never paid my salary, and asked me to write letters to fire other candidates in her name. She also would complain about her employees to me, which made me believe she would do the exact same to others about me. During one on one's, she was very manipulative and made me feel like the work I was doing was so bad that it was not worth being paid for. Later I heard that she did the exact same to many others, as a way to not pay their salaries. I am looking into taking her to court with the labor association in California, since this is possible without any lawyer costs. I recommend everybody else who has not received their salary to do the same.

Pros

• Not boring. Gives various tasks that I find challenging. • There were easy tasks and there were difficult tasks.Well, that's how it normally works. Just break down the tasks and start with the easy ones. • Overall, since this is my first work experience. I would say I did love to work with Chef Koochooloo. I learned vital skills such as; writing professional emails, multi-tasking, written and oral communication, writing effective contents, interviewing, publishing books on Amazon, administrative tasks, etc. Not just that, I also got a chance to communicate effectively with my colleagues with different backgrounds while in a remote work setting.

Cons

• Too overwhelming and there are times the work load is a lot but can handle it anyway and you will get used to it. Just take it one step at a time. Relax. Breathe in, breathe out.  • There will be tasks that are unfamiliar to you that you will need to grasp and figure out how to do along the way. We make mistakes and that is normal. What is important is that we learn from it and we don't repeat the same mistake. Be patient with yourself. • There are times when other employees and the CEO will give you feedback that is a bit hurtful, but that's how it goes and that's how you learn. You just need to be understanding and patient.

Pros

Coworkers are all hardworking and nice; there is a mutual understanding that everyone is trying to leave the toxic and abusive environment.

Cons

The CEO is incredibly abusive to her staff - who she simultaneously micromanages and gives little direction to (only to subsequently belittle when the work she gives no guidelines for is not up to her standard). She accuses employees daily of lying about the work they do and threatening not to pay if she does not like your work, even if you are not working on a contract or commission based. CEO will send you voice notes daily to berate you for your work and question your skills and education. She also threatens to fire you every week. I have never worked for someone as cruel and unkind as the CEO at this company. Also, she frequently has employees leave fake reviews on her books so I would take the positive reviews here with a grain of salt. No one I worked with wanted to stay or had anything positive to say.

Pros

there was no good thing I noticed

Cons

they didnt let me sit in well

Pros

You will learn a lot from this Company with the tasks you are going to be assigned.

Cons

Pay for employees from the Philippines are too low compared to US employees.

Pros

The team at Chef Koochooloo is accommodating and gives people a lot of room to grow. There is a lot of work to do, but that is always good.

Cons

Would be better if there would be more members of the team to keep the work moving and the application bugs gets fixed.

Pros

Innovative, dynamic place to work, bringing cooking, nutrition, culture, family time alive for students and kids. Loved the opportunities to grow beyond my original role. Appreciated the support of the founder, Layla. Enjoyed the task-based work, allowing for some flexible work hours. Exciting to be a part of the growth from conception to quickly expanding customer base and product/feature offerings.

Cons

The typical things for a startup company.

Pros

Chef f Koochooloo is an easy job to get for those with little experience who are interested in fully remote work. It's benefits end there.

Cons

As a freelancer, you deserve better than Chef Koochooloo. Save yourself the headache and time by finding a company that rewards your enthusiasm and talents. This is not it. Specifics: The job descriptions are not accurate--expect to be asked to do a number of things you were neither trained to do nor agreed to participate in. The app itself is an amalgamation of poorly cited cultural facts and tidbits that teach kids inaccurate information about different cultures worldwide. Black characters are voiced by white people with no knowledge of the culture, food, or region. Under the guise of educational access and equity the true motive of profit for its founder, Layla Sabourin, is apparent and overarching. Expect your pay will be withheld and you're agency as a contributor to not be respected. We are there to enter data, our worth is only as good as our ability to move quickly and catch up on our own (unpaid) time. Employee churn is amazingly high. Your email will likely have belonged to a dozen other recent past employees. This is a sign of bad management. Last but not least: the founder, Layla Sabourin, possesses no business acumen. Her tactics are boiler-plate intimidation and coercion. In an attempt to intimidate her fresh-out-of-college employees, she will resort to threats of withholding payment for the time they spent working on a project and then offer a compromise of continued employment if you agree to keep working. She is unopen to criticism/suggestions of any kind. This behavior will be justified using an incorrect interpretation of the contract. Don't be fooled, no contract is strong enough to withhold payment from an employee for the work they performed.