Ethics aside, this is bad analysis. Gas prices putting financial stress on Applebee's employees will also put financial stress on Applebee's customers, who may cut spending on things like going to Applebee's.
I agree they may need to cut their prices. How would this email have been received if it had said: We are facing headwinds and may need to cut prices To stay viable this means we need to cut costs One way to do this is offer lower starting wages. Though this wasn't viable in the recent past, it may be possible now. That's because our pool of workers are feeling pinched and may need to pick up extra jobs I understand…
The core line of logic "We can pay our workers less, because our workers are more desperate" never gets any better. It's one thing to say they're going to pay less because the business isn't viable at these levels of pay, but extending that to "so we're going to focus on who we can exploit" is where it crosses the line. Becuase if the reason you're cutting wages is that you can't afford them... well, let's start with that big fat juicy CEO bonus.