Fresh & Easy said it received more than 10,000 applications for jobs in July, the same month it opened six new stores in its West Coast market.
All told, the number of people applying to work at Fresh & Easy nearly quadrupled since May, the company said, adding that it plans to hire another 750 employees through September.
The company opened its first store in the San Fernando Valley and another in Hesperia, Calif., this week, though the latter opening drew protests from members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, who “distributed flyers attacking Tesco’s track record,” The Hesperia Star reported.
The flyers accused Tesco of illegally altering use-by dates on products, selling moldy and out-of-date food and selling food labeled as organic when it had high-level pesticides, the newspaper reported.
The company said those accusations were relevant only to “isolated incidents in the UK,” the newspaper reported.
Fresh & Easy is poised to open a store in San Diego and another in the Harbor City neighborhood of Los Angeles next week.
"With every store we open, we are bringing new jobs that pay well and offer great benefits," said Tim Mason, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market CEO. "We’ve put a lot of effort into treating our employees with respect and valuing them as people. Our efforts are clearly paying off with the continued increase in people wanting to work with us."
Entry-level positions at the retailer’s c-stores start at $10 an hour in California and Nevada, with similar salaries in Arizona. The company also offers a quarterly bonus of up to 10% and provides employees the opportunity to work at least 20 hours per week so they’re entitled to comprehensive healthcare for medical, prescription drug, dental and vision coverage. Fresh & Easy said it pays at least 75% of healthcare costs, and also offers employees a 401(k) retirement plan with company match.