Vitacost reviews

I worked at Vitacost for a little over a year. There were several things that troubled me that led to my decision to look for another job and leave when offered a position at a company for less money and further commute. I realized I was driven to this decision as the mood at the company kept steadily declining and witnessing things and actions of people I could no longer stand. I decided working in such a negative environment was no longer worth it or healthy. I believe the beginning of the end was when the former CMO ( a great guy - and a loss to Vitacost) decided to leave several months after a new c-level employee was hired. It was quite obvious to all that this new exec was clueless. Being a public company, executive salaries are public knowledge. It was so baffling and infuriating to know the ridiculously high six-figure salary this guy was raking in. He created rifts in departments that were at one-time smooth running, is never in the office, at times verbally abusive. He's not the type of person who should have such a high level, visible position. Another thing I could no longer tolerate was seeing the favoritism the CEO had towards his select few middle management members. If you pretend to know how to do pivot tables, talk like you know numbers, be absolutely hated by practically the whole company, you get promoted to a Senior Director position. A mystery to all. Another way to become a favorite is to dress like you're going to a night club wearing short skirts and low cut tops. Me being a guy, I can attest to why this would be a favorite by the CEO! All kidding aside, the sexual undertones, open flirting and bantering - truly, after a while, the attention getting tricks became old and annoying. Then, to get a promotion when she too, like the new c-level, is totally clueless, is quite troublesome especially since everyone knows this is too close of a relationship. The speculation of an inappropriate relationship simply can't be avoided. Threaten to quit - no problem, lets give you more money and a new title. This happened with another of the CEO's favs. Last laugh on him though. This person ultimately quit anyway several months later. It's no wonder Vitacost can't make a profit. This is a company run by managers, directors and c-levels who don't know what they are doing other than knowing how to play the CEO.

The CEO is well intentioned most of the time, and he can be pleasant to talk with at times, even funny. But he's secretive, selfish, rude, intolerant, and known for being prone to public outbursts. In my 2+ years at the company, he publicly "shame-blamed" employees in front of colleagues no less than 5 times that I was present to witness. Vitacost has bare-open seating, so this occurred within earshot of 100+ people each time. If anybody had caught one of these with a camera phone video and put it on YouTube, it would catch serious media attention. Everything in his mind is zero-sum. That is to say, if anything goes wrong, it must be somebody's fault and they must pay by being belittled and yelled at. I've never seen people cower at a superior like this outside of the military. I've never seen so many people stressed to the point of physical illness as I have at the corporate office of Vitacost. It was, frankly, disgusting and heartbreaking to see otherwise good people get trampled on professionally and emotionally every day. The games that management plays with the employees, at the behest of the CEO, is borderline psychologically abusive. Too, and perhaps more importantly regarding the possibility of success for the company, the CEO is simply not of this technological era. He literally barely understands how to work his computer. Others have noted this in their reviews, and they are not exaggerating. But lets be honest, as the CEO, he doesn't really need to use his computer, because his job and his value, like any CEO, is to bring direction, leadership, vision, and managerial wherewithal to the organization. I've never seen such a lack of all of those at a company primed for success. Lastly, he does not understand the intersection between retail and technology, a concept otherwise known as ecommerce. The business model is sound. To be clear, much of management are not bad people. The rest of the C-level and middle managers, are altogether great, well balanced people who work hard to make a difference. Customers want the products that they sell, and for the most part, Vitacost does a great job at delivering those products. But yet they still manage to lose millions of dollars every single quarter. Its incomprehensible to me that investors keep dumping money into this company. If this company manages to turn itself around, it will be one of the greatest small-cap turn around runs in history. I do hope they can manage to get back on track.