251–260 of 472 posts
I'd argue the traditional worker owned business is the family business. From there extended family - tribe - confederation... Etc. If anybody is gunho about a worker owned business, just go and start one. It's a free market and we can let the empirical results show us what is possible.
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> If you hate it, go do it yourself. Exactly right. All large enterprises I have worked give full freedom to devs to develop alternative to any SAAS product they dislike. As simple as that.
Hahaha. Okay but seriously, I’m reminded of the four months I spent as a dishwasher and the hundred times the half drunk line cook ranted about how he could run a better restaurant. Then do it! Quit and start your own SAAS app! To be clear I don’t mean to take your ball and go home the moment people aren’t doing things your way. Everyone has a responsibility to communicate and raise concerns productively. But if one…
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also Hell's Kitchen (since 2020), downtown MPLS https://www.hellskitcheninc.com/#about-us-employee-owned-sec...
"All dine-in checks include a 15% service charge, and all to-go, delivery and curbside pick-up orders include a 20% service charge. 100% of these charges are distributed to our employees in order to keep compensation as fair as possible to everyone" I guess this is mentioned on the page to signal that menu price is the final, no need to tip? US' tipping culture is so strange. Normally you don't need to mention anythi…
A lot of US business practices are all about scamming people with deception, and restaurants are the epitome of this.
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> Somehow finances have to work, which is usually a harsh reality for some. Ex: Hey we can't pay workers $250/hr without raises prices to above what customers are willing to pay If it was worker owned wouldn't you just pay everyone some reasonable wage that the business can afford and then also split profits evenly?
What is "reasonable," what is "fair." These words signify a death spiral in wage discussions. The reality is that businesses cannot increase prices forever and have a market that still wants to pay them. If I sell burgers for $10k and they're shit burgers then I'd make no money and have to shut it all down. Just like my friend who shut down his cabinetry business because he was paying his employees more than himself…
I've listened to almost all the How I Built This episodes, and paying your employees more than you are paying yourself is fairly common. You need to pay everyone market rates to retain them, and there often isn't enough left over to pay yourself well (if at all).
The answer is "no" unless all staff work for free.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headline...
Why doesn't the word "rent" appear in here anywhere? If the landlord becomes aware that the restaurant pays way above industry norms, it will raise the rents at the earliest opportunity to squeeze that money back out of the business. Either they own the building or have an existing long-term lease.
Once they've covered all their expenses so they can "retire" from their regular job, they put all the extra income into other RE efforts (namely buying other such strip malls). For lease renewals, they'll usually charge just the market rates. They are very unlikely to hyperfocus on one particular business they rent out to - they have better uses of their time, and don't want volatile income. They want something steady and reliable. They know restaurants have thin margins and may fail.
There's an Indian restaurant in one of the top food streets in my city that people love - a lot of folks consider it amongst the best in the city. I once jokingly told the owner "What will it take for you to open in my suburb?" She said that before she opened where she did, she tried to open at a plaza close to my house, but the rent was too high. I was shocked - that plaza is a graveyard of restaurants and businesses, and is not at all a happening location. Yet a top food street in the city charges less?
It's not a crazy story. It happens often.
[1] https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/triple-net-lease-nnn.as...
Yes, absolutely, but there are pitfalls: * Somehow finances have to work, which is usually a harsh reality for some. Ex: Hey we can't pay workers $250/hr without raises prices to above what customers are willing to pay * Consumers despite "Least common denominator" which is often the result of "design by committee". Usually consumers are after something niche, unique, artistic, and creative, which is the inspiration…
But as soon as a working class business tries that, it apparently doesn't work in the long term.
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Yeah, or it works ok at a small scale but you can never expand, and a competitor (maybe your own ex-employees) eats your lunch like what happened to Cheeseboard. Which is still ok, you can be in that cool little niche if that's what you like, but don't tell me it's a better model overall.
It's almost certainly a better for the people who are working somewhere they actually care about for more than minimum wage with performance potentially tied to income.