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Anyone ever heard of In N Out??? They pay above wages, treat employees like family and have scholarships and retirement funds and all the goodies for employees.. AND they have been doing this for years...
Oh yeah and their most expensive meal is less than most other chain basic meals.....
And as an answer to the question does anyone stay in fast food a lifetime... YES a lot of the employees move to upper management and stay for their career......
When was the last time you've been to a fast food joint? At my local McDonald's, most of the employees are adults. Don't forget that McDonald's is open year round during business hours. Teenagers are in school in all seasons of the year with the exception of the summer. Who do you think is "flipping" burgers during noon on a Monday in the month of November? A teenager or an adult just trying to get by?
And tell me why that adult isn't trying to move into management? Why would he be satisfied staying as a line cook for the rest of his life?
So sure, yes that might be their starting point, but them wanting $15/hr makes it seem like they want it to be their ending point as well. It's like they are saying they've given up on every working up the ladder and just want their $15/hr now and not move up. Yes, I know there are only a few managers per store, but there are a lot of stores. And even if they don't stay in the same chain, there's no reason they can't apply for better work elsewhere to move up the ladder.
I worked for In-N-Out Burger in the late 1980s when I was in high school. INO is a great company to for. I was making about $5/hr when minimum wage (at the time) was a little above $3/hr. When I left, I was making $6/hr. As far as I know, they have always paid a starting wage that is several dollars above minimum wage. And the managers make solid, middle-class salaries.
With that said, INO is a high quality operation from top to bottom. The quality is in the food, the service, the cleanliness of their stores, etc. However it is they are able to pay their employees reasonably well, it can't be due to cutting costs or corners somewhere else. The only thing I can think of is that they only do very limited advertising (in any media).
Anyone ever heard of In N Out??? They pay above wages, treat employees like family and have scholarships and retirement funds and all the goodies for employees.. AND they have been doing this for years...
Oh yeah and their most expensive meal is less than most other chain basic meals.....
And as an answer to the question does anyone stay in fast food a lifetime... YES a lot of the employees move to upper management and stay for their career......
Good food indeed. They sell T shirts hats and the like for like 10 bucks, nice T shirts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by corydon
In n Out, a west coast chain, but they are in TX lately, pays about 12 bucks an hour. Fairly big chain.
Me myself, I prefer to pay a little more for good fresh food and a clean place.
For those who never been there, everything is fresh, potatoes are cut in the store, only hamburgers and hot dogs, fries and milk shakes.
Reading the article from generally liberal NPR it basically validates what conservatives, businesspeople, and business economics 101 has long been pointing out: to make $15/hour "work" you need to employ less people, have them work harder and with higher skills, and charge more for the product (in the case of the article it's 25% more when comparing MCM's $6 burger to McD's $4.80 Big Mac).
The article also glossed over MCM's alleged profitability when it said, ""We're ... going to show a profit in the last quarter," (I take that as "we only project to start making a profit" - and I wonder what was not included in the quote where the periods are placed.)
Implied in the article when it says "Now, in order to make this model work, customers have to pay a little more." is you need customers able and willing to consistently pay the premium. If you go to MCM's website, you'll notice their 2 locations in relatively affluent suburbs - where CD information shows average median income around $60-70K. Notice MCM doesn't have locations and $6 burgers in inner-city Detroit with a far lower average median income.
Some mention In-N-Out. They do seem to start at a higher wage. They also have limited advertising and save costs by having all locations relatively close to regional distribution centers (why they are a regional chain and not national). I've also never seen beyond high school kids working line-level in the INO's near me in Dallas, so likely few to no benefits.
If you can create a business model paying $15/hour to flip $6 burgers and make it viable in the long-term - by all means go for it and live in the beauty of the free market capitalistic system. However, the liberal argument of "we can ignore business economics 101 and force all business owners to pay wages regardless of business model or cost" is frankly based on greed and ignorance.
The beauty of truly free markets is that, as the customer, you can choose which businesses to reward with your purchase and the market can react to it. You don't need a government mandate for that...
The reason they can pay so much more for employees, is they charge so much more for the burgers. They price them out of the reach of the majority of hamburger buyers.
$15 an hour minimum wage, would move more than half of all workers pay, to more than the median wages in the U.S. today. Median wage today is $28,031. Half the people earn more, and half earn less. A $15 median wage would be $31,200 per year. This is $3,000 more than the median wage today. Median household income is $52,250. which is $10,000 per year less than couple would earn both making minimum wages at $15 per hour.
In other words, move all minimum wage earners, well into the middle class. Retail stores including the high priced department stores would double the wages they pay now. And this list goes on and on.
It would cause a huge jump in costs to do business, and all prices would take huge jumps. These price increases would hit the middle class hard, lowering many of them down to the low wage category. All other wages would be forced to go up, so suddenly the $15 an hour minimum wage workers, would be right back in the same situation they are today. Close to twice the income, but it would only go as far as $8 an hour goes today.
To be competitive on the 2015 international market, jobs would jump overseas like crazy, as we could not be competitive with even the low skilled manual assembly costs in manufacturing. It would even make things like autos, etc., jump in price as all wages were raised and we would see those 11 foreign owned car factories closed as we would no longer be able to compete is just one example.
And tell me why that adult isn't trying to move into management? Why would he be satisfied staying as a line cook for the rest of his life?
Because that's what they want to do? Some people are just happy floating along in life. Some people, don't have the people skills to be management. Few years ago I was working as a valet at a fairly big hotel, got the chance to move into a lower management position. It was the worst decision of my life. Workload went up considerable, base pay went up as well, however with the loss of tip revenue, I was still making roughly the same amount of money, less actually when you account for taxes. It just wasnt worth being there.
$15 an hour is good as a starting wage. But I'd be looking to move up in the company. You don't want to be still making $15 20-30 years down the line and trying to save for retirement.
$15 an hour is good as a starting wage. But I'd be looking to move up in the company. You don't want to be still making $15 20-30 years down the line and trying to save for retirement.
There's not a whole lot of upward mobility going on at these jobs. Those who are competent move on to more exciting industries. Those who are not don't really go anywhere. Those who actually do make it to management are rare. One for every several hundred who have worked in the industry.
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Good food indeed
. They sell T shirts hats and the like for like 10 bucks, nice T shirts.
