I'm a California restaurant operator preparing for the $20-an-hour fast-food wage by trimming hours, eliminating employee vacation, and raising menu prices
I'm a California restaurant operator preparing for the $20-an-hour fast-food wage by trimming hours, eliminating employee vacation, and raising menu prices
A Fatburger franchisee in Los Angeles shares survival strategies as California chains brace for $20-an-hour wage for fast-food workers in April.
If your business can't afford employees lives, your business sucks. Figure your shit out.
94your business sucks
This is the exact problem and hardly anyone is talking about it. These sorts of restaurants had real simple recipes and food back when they started. You didn't need the same kind of supply chain then that you need now, and when you throw the franchise services fees and royalties, what you end up with is exactly this.
Contrasting this, there's this hamburger wagon near where I live. It's literally a wagon, serving slider style burgers and the dude refuses to give you anything but pickles, onion, salt, and pepper. He's got a few drinks, some chip options, and that's it. He has zero condiments or other toppings and serves nothing else. And you know what? He makes a fucking killing. Rain or shine, this wagon has a line of 10-15 people come lunch time and has plenty more come throughout the day. Only hires two people to work it.
I'm sure he's raised them before, but he hasn't raised his prices once since I've been going there. 1.50 for a single or 3.00 for a double. Even crazier is the fact that it's been there for over 100 years. Never turned it into a storefront, never tried to make it a franchise, never added to the menu really. Just always did what it did best, and its still insanely popular.
Food for thought I guess.
3
Does everything but cut his own pay.
90...well no, not my bootstraps...
25
Six months or less before he’s closed up or bitching about lack of “quality”people
68Let's be fair, I'm sure he's already bitching about the lack of quality people.
21
What a jackass.
McDonald's, which has raised prices by 20% over a two-year period, said late last year that it was starting to lose low-income customers.
20% price increase over two years you say? Certainly that was necessary to keep the company afloat!
McDonald's gross profit for the quarter ending September 30, 2023 was $3.864B, a 12.12% increase year-over-year.
McDonald's gross profit for the twelve months ending September 30, 2023 was $14.317B, a 9.63% increase year-over-year.
McDonald's annual gross profit for 2022 was $13.207B, a 4.98% increase from 2021.
McDonald's annual gross profit for 2021 was $12.58B, a 29% increase from 2020.
McDonald's annual gross profit for 2020 was $9.752B, a 12.77% decline from 2019.Other than a dip in 2020 that was more than replaced in 2021, McDonald's is right back on track with record profits and the only reason they are losing low income earners is pricing themselves out of that market.
63I'm not low income but I do think McDonald's is pretty poor value for the quality. You can usually go someplace with much better food for the same or slightly more now - they're a long way from being 'cheap' food.
20You can usually go to a sit down diner for less now. McDonald's prices are ridiculous.
8
I can't for the life of me figure out how they're still in business. Why would anyone eat there? It used to be an okay option when you were in a hurry and wanted some cheap food. But now it's cheap (quality) food, that is worse than it has ever been, that costs a fucking fortune, and it isn't even a fun place anymore. Their food barely qualifies as food. Their buns, burgers, and fries taste like compressed napkins. The book Fast Food Nation and the documentary Supersize Me exposed how atrocious McDonald's food really is, and people just kept on going. What the fuck is wrong with people?!? Why are you spending $20 for a tasteless trash lunch that masquerades as food, that is terrible for your body, and the environment? WHY!
18One thing that I learned recently from the Modern MBA YouTube channel, is that these fast food brands don’t run stores – they primarily charge franchise/royalty fees, and the store operators/franchisees see a significantly different and lower-profit-margin situation.
“McDonalds Corporation” is not where these expenses accrue.
8It's true that the McDonald's corporation is in the real estate business, not the burger business. But the franchisees are certainly in business selling hamburger analogues. They wouldn't be on every corner if they weren't profitable. I read once that if you want to open a McDonald's, they won't even talk to you unless you have a million dollars cash. It takes a fuck ton of money to open a McDonald's franchise and people still do it, because it's a license to print money.
3Those franchise fees are still tied to sales enough to have a dip during covid and continuous increases after which aligns with menu price increases.
2
Really powerful reply here. Thanks for sharing the financial details as it makes it easier to evaluate.
1
Two Pizza Hut franchisees, who own hundreds of stores in California, are eliminating their in-house delivery fleets. The labor-gutting strategy has left 1,200 drivers without jobs.
"I feel that there will be a lot of pain to workers as franchise owners are forced to take drastic measures," Walberg said.
If you own hundreds of Pizza Hut restaurants, nobody is "forcing" you to do anything.
60https://longreads.com/2017/04/12/the-elements-of-bureaucratic-style/
In short:
“Our agents were left with no choice but to call Chicago Aviation Security Officers to assist in removing the customer from the flight. He repeatedly declined to leave.” The phrase, “left with no choice” is calculated and deliberate, and every rhetorical move of the preceding paragraphs is leading up to this moment. The bureaucratic state never acts of its own volition; it is always reactionary, and it always acts because the victim leaves it no choice.
2
That's a rather long way of saying "I'm a greedy, capitalistic piece of shit."
51it's the first 5 words of the title. could be shorter if you omit the location I guess.
5
If your company doesn't pay its employees a living wage or better, then your business model sucks and should collapse.
Since anticompetitive practices and lobbying are the norm and the most profitable investments businesses can make, the whole capitalist system sucks and we should move towards socialized hamburger franchises.
51all these greedy fucks balking at the idea of paying employees a living wage are short sighted fucking morons.
You know what happens when employees get better pay?
They spend more
Which means your business will see more customers, and wil earn more
That is, if your business isnt run by a myopic jackass who cant see beyond the his own personal and immediate greed. *-
11Definitely, that will leave only one business model so it'll be the best business model (cause there are no others, you know).
5
How "eliminating employee vacation" is even a thing?
41It seems strange to us, but vacation time isn't something required by law. In fact, there are no federal requirements for companies to cover paid sick leave, either (some states have them).
Those things mostly came about as a way for companies to attract and retain employees, and because of union negotiations.
21I'm just surprised that there's a restaurant that offers it. I mean, some restaurants do, but they're not usually chains.
Actually, thinking about it, I'm sure he's been looking to cut the vacation days regardless and is just using the minimum wage hike as a convenient excuse.
14Vacation leave is not paid but its still a cost to the business because they have to go through the process of finding another worker.
2Vacation leave is not paid
Wait, what?! You are just little-fired for a month?
3
Sounds like what unions were meant to fight against.
38The guy is giving people no reason to spend their money there: raise prices and treat your employees like an inconvenience?
No thanks. I'll support a more ethical business.
35I think this would be a good time for people to on mass leave google maps reviews with references to this article and the owners greed. Make everyone who searches for Fatburger see that they don’t treat their employees with basic decency and respect.
29en masse
5ent moose
1
“I’m a complete piece of shit.”
29A guy named Marcus Walberg that owns a few burger stores...
People that don't read closely are going to have a field day with this.
18It's happened before when he did his insane conservative horseshit in the past.
9
What did employees have to do to survive on the meager wages? It's always about the employers, but employees are left having to figure things out on their own, with much fewer resources at their disposal.
17None of the service minded people will be jumping ship lol. Earning california minimum wage plus tips is better than a fast food $20. Non front of house might try and jump over, but they aren't the service minded people he talks about and the "teens" he claims to worry about can just take those open casual dining jobs or casual dining can just raise their pay for back of house until they can keep workers. What a nonce.
15Me: Hi there, I'd like to apply for a loan for a new restaurant.
Bank: Okay, so you have a business plan?
Me: Yes, here it is.
Bank: Hmm... it says here under employee compensation, "slaves LOL" - what does that mean?
Me: Oh, haha, I'm gonna pay them pretty much nothing.
Bank: ...get out of my bank.
Why do we accept shitty business plans that would otherwise get laughed at?
4if you could show the bank you could get away with it they would be more than happy to fund you
2