Restaurant workers quit at record rate • Hacker News Board

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#701

Post by chillwaves » Wed, Jul 21, 2021, 3:12 AM UTC

crooked-v wrote: post #650

jackson1442 wrote: post #625

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What skills does a line cook at Wendy’s learn aside from “how a job works?” Also, who staffs Wendy’s from morning until schools let out during the day? I haven’t seen seasonal fast food restaurants anywhere near me.

General multitasking, team coordination, cash handling, basic restaurant dishwashing, stock management, industrial cleaning, pacifying unhappy customers, dealing with druggies and harassers, and a whole bunch of other things I've probably forgotten from when I worked fast food as a teenager. The simplicity of each individual job means that nobody ever has just one job at a fast food place. Stick around for any amount…

Any of those skills can be picked up at basically any job, further they require no foundational skills to learn.

That's why the pay is low, because the skill set is widely accessible. I'm not sure why people insist that these kind of jobs are teaching valuable skills.

All that is happening is the basic process of working. They could learn it in any context, at any point in their lives. There is no justification to pay people starvation wages.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#702

Post by tomc1985 » Wed, Jul 21, 2021, 3:12 AM UTC

avidiax wrote: post #665

tomc1985 wrote: post #503

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Business owners can raise their prices slowly. You know, boil the frog. Surely that prevents the harsh reactions that customers have to suddenly having the price raised?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_pricing $9 or $9.50 for a beer is the most you can charge in some places. You'll suddenly put people off if the beer is $10. What you can do is charge $9 for a 14 oz beer (previously 16 oz), which is roughly like charging $10.28. Can only do that trick once, though. Or you can increase the size to 24 oz and charge $14.

Yeah but $9 for a beer is already insane in most locales. Most bars charge $5-$7, going down to $3ish (or even a dollar) for a cheap beer in a lower-income area. Unless these restaurant owners are already capped out they have a lot of wiggle room

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#703

Post by systemvoltage » Wed, Jul 21, 2021, 3:15 AM UTC

AussieWog93 wrote: post #681

systemvoltage wrote: post #666

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't take a MBA-like focus to think "Gee..only if we had more margin, we'd pay more". This entire thread is totally out of touch with reality.

>It doesn't take a MBA-like focus to think "Gee..only if we had more margin, we'd pay more". It does take razor-sharp focus and constant innovation to work out how you can increase margin, though. You can't just arbitrarily raise prices without offering any additional value and expect your business to stay alive.

Small businesses already have a razor sharp focus otherwise they'd disappear. Literally their margins are their bread. I find your take slighly condescending but I want to give you a benefit of the doubt - what makes you think small businesses aren't focused on optmizing their margins? Just like you, I am a small business partner and know many small business owners. If you put an MBA-educated person in charge, the opposite would happen. Reading HBR doesn't make you a qualified for optimizing a restaurant business. Neither does having an MBA degree.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#704

Post by readflaggedcomm » Wed, Jul 21, 2021, 3:19 AM UTC

MomoXenosaga wrote: post #553

browningstreet wrote: post #498

I think some businesses are going out of businesses because they stubbornly refuse to raise their wages. In the vacation community where I live, there are two grocery/delis about a mile apart from each other. One is at a marina, the other is at a beach. They have almost the same business offering. Traditionally, both are fully mobbed during the sunny seasons. Two weeks ago, I visited the one I usually go to -- at the…

Not sure how it is in the US but where I live restaurant owners are wealthy entrepreneurs driving around expensive SUVs. Every sunny day the restaurants and bars are packed from morning until midnight. If they need more staff they have the money to pay better wages. That's how every other industry deals with labour shortages.

Restaurant capital costs, and low margins, guarantee owners would be wealthy and willing to take the risk.

If their risk calculations are off, that's an opportunity for competitors.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#705

Post by anonytrary » Wed, Jul 21, 2021, 3:20 AM UTC

Free market at work:

  1. Restaurant workers quit
  2. Restaurants raise wages
  3. Restaurants get workers back

Minimum wage seems to be out of this equation. Natural market dynamics will self-correct and the wages will naturally rise as literally any other price rises when inflation occurs. To be honest, I'm not sure what minimum wage is other than an artificial constraint. Workers obviously are willing to quit jobs with low pay, so why does the lower bound of pay need to be enforced? It seems contrived. If anyone can explain how minimum wage affects the above scenario, I would be grateful.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#706

Post by it » Wed, Jul 21, 2021, 3:21 AM UTC

anonytrary wrote: post #705

Free market at work: 1. Restaurant workers quit 2. Restaurants raise wages 3. Restaurants get workers back Minimum wage seems to be out of this equation. Natural market dynamics will self-correct and the wages will naturally rise as literally any other price rises when inflation occurs. To be honest, I'm not sure what minimum wage is other than an artificial constraint. Workers obviously are willing to quit jobs with…

You forgot to mention the part about the restaurants that can't afford to raise wages either cutting hours or shutting down for good.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#707

Post by brandmeyer » Wed, Jul 21, 2021, 3:21 AM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #644

brandmeyer wrote: post #593

Earlier quoted context omitted.

20 GBP for lunch? Even at 10 USD I'll buy lunch only once in two weeks. A 20 USD lunch is a rare treat for special occasions only.

Surely it depends on the income level? There are people for which a $20 USD lunch everyday or close, is nothing to write home about. In fact their time can be far more valuable (into what money they can command by doing some extra work), so that the opportunity cost between cooking and buying lunch to make it not worth to cook.

I'm just pointing out that the demand for eating out is highly elastic. If the restaurant industry as a whole raises prices relative to background inflation, then overall sales will fall and some will go out of business.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#708

Post by eggsmediumrare » Wed, Jul 21, 2021, 3:23 AM UTC

AussieWog93 wrote: post #691

eggsmediumrare wrote: post #651

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serving greasy heart attack patties might not be the most optimal example for an otherwise valid point.

To be fair, both "sandwich" and "Wendy's" mean completely different things in Australian English! Sandwiches typically contain fresh ingredients (we'd call a gresy heart attack patty between two buns a burger), and Wendy's is a completely different chain that sells dairy products and hot dogs.

TIL!

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#709

Post by anonytrary » Wed, Jul 21, 2021, 3:25 AM UTC

it wrote: post #706

anonytrary wrote: post #705

Free market at work: 1. Restaurant workers quit 2. Restaurants raise wages 3. Restaurants get workers back Minimum wage seems to be out of this equation. Natural market dynamics will self-correct and the wages will naturally rise as literally any other price rises when inflation occurs. To be honest, I'm not sure what minimum wage is other than an artificial constraint. Workers obviously are willing to quit jobs with…

You forgot to mention the part about the restaurants that can't afford to raise wages either cutting hours or shutting down for good.

Unsound business models can only exist for so long -- are all restaurants closing, or just those with extremely small operating margins? If a restaurant is operating on such small margins that they can't raise wages to keep their business open, then it makes sense for that space to be used by a restaurant owner who can run the business more effectively.

I fail to see how this isn't just capitalism and competition working as expected. The majority of restaurants react to this by raising all prices -- including wages. The food costs twice as much now, and they are paying their staff twice as much. If people don't want to pay the price, maybe it's best that a better restaurant takes its place or the restaurant improves their offering?

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#710

Post by Ccecil » Wed, Jul 21, 2021, 3:26 AM UTC

holidaygoose wrote: post #656

greedo wrote: post #508

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure a waiter at a good steakhouse is making a good living. It's been a while since I worked food service, so I might be making some poor assumptions, but: 1. Most waiters don't get health benefits 2. Most waiters don't get retirement plans 3. Most waiters are at the whim of the restaurant managers 4. There's only so many tables you can turn in a shift, and tips average under 20%. 5. Most waiters don't get an…

Even with your understated numbers, with everything being as worse as possible, you ended up with a pretty decent wage for 5 evenings of work. In reality, half of the US population lives in a state with a regular minimum wage for waiters (California, New York, Washington, and a bunch of other states), and the other half averages $5/hr which is $7800/yr if you work 30 hours a week. Also there's cash tips that aren't r…

Not reporting tips on taxes only hurts the waitstaff even more. It blocks you from being able to get loans/credit. Reporting them and keeping track of them then paying your taxes at the end of the year is the only way...but of course that assumes the bank doesn't deem your income as "not steady/stable" because of course...it isn't a salary.

In my area some waitstaff also make $3.50/hr because the company assumes they make tips. Some also hold all your credit card tips and give them to you on the paycheck...so it isn't all roses.