Pros
I have worked for several large corporations in my career and this is the first time working for a "smaller" company. Vitacost has a LOT of opportunity and as support functions and management find new and better ways of doing things and getting products to market faster - they don't sit in ivory towers making decisions with no input. They rally the teams and get a round table approach to problems and find REAL solutions. As for the previous comments about "no more employee lunches" and "no free goods" - well you obviously don't know what is important in a work environment. The measure of a successful company, is its ability to grow and evolve. When you stay stagnant and rest on your laurels of the "yesteryear" you fail. The CEO (as every CEO does) expects results. If you are expecting less from any management team, perhaps you should find another field. However, different from the other companies I have worked at, the CEO here sits with his people, is interested in their personal lives, their education on the industry. As for the comment about excel skills and no industry experience - the measure of a truly successful merchant is being able to learn the widget, analyze the information about its performance, negotiate better metrics and EXECUTE. I have worked as a buyer in half a dozen vastly different industries and never failed at getting them to grow. Its the measure of your ability to manage a business, not necessarily know every detail of one particular product category before entering into it. The morale is the BEST I have ever experienced. I genuinely am excited (as are most other emplyees here) and happy about coming into work everyday and feel motivated and encouraged to continue to grow. Feedback is given and performance measured but its an environment where I feel I can make a mistake and not be made to feel that I am not valued because of it. Its definitely one of the best companies I have worked for and am excited about growing as the company grows!
Cons
Regret I didn't come here sooner.