How can they afford it? They keep their costs low, their menu options minimal, and deliver pretty good food. On the flip side, their menu prices are also relatively low compared to other chains.
Thing is, up until now, by offering higher wages than competitors, they were able to maintain not only employee loyalty, but encourage hard work for that money. The customer benefited, the employees benefited, and the company benefited.
Now, by artificially raising the tide of wages, they will strip out much of that ethic that In-N-Out has been able to maintain by eliminating their ‘higher than average’ wages and making it equal with the clock puncher at McDonalds who could really care less what you buy, what they do, and even if you get your order.
And that's going to hit restaurants hard - chain restaurants will simply have more clock punchers, places that offered higher wages likely won't be able to raise them much higher - why work hard for $17 an hour when you can slug along at $15? Traditional restaurants will likely have to cut down kitchen staff - eliminating thousands of prep kitchen assistants and simplifying menus, and server staff will have to pick up more of the slack, as many busboy positions will be eliminated as well.
In the end, what the people of Seattle will get is probably worse service, fewer menu choices, fewer options to eat at, and lose tens of thousands of jobs. It'll be an absolute boon to the kitchen food supply companies, as restaurants turn to more pre-prepared food to serve as they can no longer process fresh foods into meals, and it will be an absolute boon to food borne illness, as all these cuts mean more exposure of food to contamination from tables being cleaned by servers, food left on tables longer, kitchen staff filling in for busboys, etc.
So yes, the dream of a $15 an hour food service job is obtainable on the open market, but by making the market change, they eliminate the rewards of hard work. They hurt local farms which will find less of a market for their raw foods, they hurt the currently employed by making their services too expensive, they hurt the food options through simplified menus and more reliance on food service companies, all so they can feel better about paying more for the same food.
I sometimes wish balloting wasn't secret. I'd love to see a $30 surcharge on every bill given to a voter for this deal, since even with the higher wages, the servers deserve more, and they should pay that extra. Maybe the restaurant could split that surcharge with staff and lower the bills of those who didn't vote for this idiocy.
Interesting post, thanks.
New info to me confirmed by this:
http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/In-N-Out-Burger-Salaries-E14276.htm
$15.00 an hour for the waitress? I certainly wouldn’t be worried about figuring out what to tip. No reason to tip and the restaurant better not be forcing gratuity for tables over 8 customers.
many people are content with jobs that pay little if they LIKE their work and the business takes care of their health care and throws some money into a 401k.....
These are outstanding points, thank you. I did not know about the In-N-Out business and high-wages model.