When the Guy Making Your Sandwich Has a Noncompete Clause
1–10 of 99 posts
Re: When the Guy Making Your Sandwich Has a Noncompete Clause
#2Their food is disappointing and now their business practices are, too?
I'm really wishing the NYT had tried to get a comment from Jimmy John's corporate before publication. I'd love to hear their justification for that.
Re: When the Guy Making Your Sandwich Has a Noncompete Clause
#3I've been under non-competes before. I've just ignored them. Most of them are unenforceable and in cases like Jimmy John's are just another form of harassment.
Re: When the Guy Making Your Sandwich Has a Noncompete Clause
#4I had a 6-month non-compete-ish agreement at a taco shop in 2007. I couldn't take the taco recipes to another taco shop within the nearest `n` miles. Kinda lulzy at the time...
Re: When the Guy Making Your Sandwich Has a Noncompete Clause
#5This got a little too typically NYT generic and preachy at the end -- I was expecting either an altar call or somebody to pass a collection plate -- but the specific case about non-competes deserves some attention.
For all the things California is doing to drive out businesses, one great thing about the state is that non-competes have very little weight. (In fact, this was what led Google and Apple to screw over the tech industry for many years, but I digress). The measures are very rarely enforced even in states that do support them. What with a new load of state legislators coming into office over the next few months, fixing non-competes in those other states is an easy win that could increase the state's competitiveness.
Re: When the Guy Making Your Sandwich Has a Noncompete Clause
#6The article has a pretty obvious slant in one direction. A lot of times small businesses will require this of their entry level workers not because they are afraid of their workers going to a competitor, but don't want their employees to go and start a competing business, which in the small business world is a very real risk. It costs much less to start a small business, and in the local market many of these small businesses operate in, a new competitor can take away a big chunk of an already small pie. If that competitor did so by stealing your business practices, then congrats, you are putting yourself out of business. I'm not necessarily saying this is wrong or right, but it's the other side of the story the NYT didn't discuss.
Ironically, I worked for JJ in college, and never once did this ever concern me. This may be my personal bias, but I think the NYT is trying to make mountains out of molehills here. There are much bigger contributing factors to low wages for fast food restaurant workers, such as illegal immigrants depressing wages, limited ability for workers to organize, and perverse tax incentives that prevent profits from working their way down the economic ladder.
As a side note, JJ pays better than a vast majority of fast food restaurant chains. Their in-shop workers are paid above minimum wage (average around $8.50), and it's fairly easy to move into a delivery driver position where you can earn $25/hr on Fridays and Saturday nights.
Re: When the Guy Making Your Sandwich Has a Noncompete Clause
#7Their food is disappointing and now their business practices are, too? I'm really wishing the NYT had tried to get a comment from Jimmy John's corporate before publication. I'd love to hear their justification for that.
Probably something like protecting their operational advantages i.e. standardized processes found at the retail front line that give them a competitive advantage
Re: When the Guy Making Your Sandwich Has a Noncompete Clause
#8Welcome to the Corporate Logocracy. Please enjoy your stay and note that by entering you agree to submit to mediation in the case of a dispute.
Re: When the Guy Making Your Sandwich Has a Noncompete Clause
#9The article has a pretty obvious slant in one direction. A lot of times small businesses will require this of their entry level workers not because they are afraid of their workers going to a competitor, but don't want their employees to go and start a competing business, which in the small business world is a very real risk. It costs much less to start a small business, and in the local market many of these small bu…
"The article has a pretty obvious slant in one direction."
I noticed there's a signpost pointing down that way as well. There's some writing on it saying 'Sanity'. You may want to stroll that way a little.
Re: When the Guy Making Your Sandwich Has a Noncompete Clause
#10The article has a pretty obvious slant in one direction. A lot of times small businesses will require this of their entry level workers not because they are afraid of their workers going to a competitor, but don't want their employees to go and start a competing business, which in the small business world is a very real risk. It costs much less to start a small business, and in the local market many of these small bu…
I am confused by what appears to be an assertion that Jimmy John's has a legitimate concern that their minimum-wage-earning food service employees might leave to start a competing national sandwich chain.