The opening shift at Culver's if definitely my least favorite job that I have to do there.  Plus the fact that I like to sleep in on the weekends doesn't help either. There are people who open at 7am.  I personally, have never hard to start before 8am.  Your start time in the morning depends on what your assignment is.  You can be assigned to open lobby, kitchen, front or custard.

I personally can't speak to those that open the kitchen area, as I have never had to do this.  What I've seen is that they must fire up the grills and fryers.  They must all make sure the buns and condiments are ready to go.  They usually have a later opening time.  I also have never opened the front, however, these workers start the earliest.  This shift of workers hand-cuts all the fruit and vegetables and gets them in their proper containers for use throughout the day. 

Lobby is probably the easiest opening shift that there is.  This shift usually doesn't have to come in until 9:30.  I have been perplexed by this opening job my whole career.  I have never understood why I have to come in and re-wash all the tables and chairs that were supposedly done the night before?  What really happens from 11-7 when no one is in the store????  Of course, I just go with it because it's policy.  :-)

The opening shift I am chosen most for is opening the custard. (This shift starts at 8) I am sure you are dying to know what this all entails.  The shift the night before is required to take down the custard.  That basically means taking the whole machine apart and cleaning it and leaving it to dry while it's apart.  Yes, this happens EVERY night without fail. My job in the morning is take all of those clean pieces and actually put the machine together.  It is pretty complicated to put together and took me multiple shifts to get it up and running by the time we open at 10am.  Once the machine is together, the custard must be made. The custard buckets must be at least 1/2 full by opening time.  Half full for vanilla, chocolate and the flavor of the day.  We mix in any leftover custard from the night before into the new stuff.  I then need to clean and fill the carmel and fudge pumps.  Once those duties are done, I need to put out all the toppings for the custard.  Do you realize there are 32 different topping you can get for your custard?  Yes, I put out all 32 and make sure they are filled for the days use.  The very last thing I do is get the coffee brewing.  Quite frankly, that's probably the easiest of all the jobs I have to do.

While I still dislike the opening shifts, there are distinct advantages,  You usually get done by early afternoon so you have the whole rest of the day and night free.  It's good to have this experience because the more duties you know how to do, the more hours you get because you are flexible.