9.5.19 Bee-otches of the Day: restaurant owners

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Bee-otch of the Day honors are awarded Monday through Thursday; Bee-otch of the Week is awarded Sunday morning on Chuck69.com.

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Name: various
Age: various
Occupation: restaurant owners
Last Seen: nationwide
Bee-otched For: causing a mass exodus
 

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Just imagine: you're in Traverse City, Michigan and it's 3 AM. You're hungry, and you don't want to cook. So, you go out. Most restaurants you see are closed and getting something from a gas station won't do.

But then, you see the famous yellow hexagon with the red letters that read "Denny's". Visions of pancakes and bacon dance in your head. But then, you make an unfortunate realization:

It's closed.

And if you're that desperate for a Grand Slam, ya gotta wait until 7 AM.

Meanwhile, down the street, to quote the Rolling Stones, it's goodbye Ruby Tuesday. Earlier this week, that restaurant closed for good.

Further down Munson Ave. and onto Front Street, the KFC has been closed for months. Right now in the Cherry Capitol, if you want a piece of the Colonel, you'll have to drive all the way to Chum's Corners.

Now, you might be thinking that this mass exodus of restaurant closings in TC is due to its population, which is 15,000. Yes, it's smaller than suburbs of Detroit and Grand Rapids. But guess what? The problem exists here in GR, too. The Steak 'n Shake on 28th Street near I-96 has been closed for months, too.

The reason why Denny's, Ruby Tuesday, KFC, Steak 'n Shake and other chains are closing locations isn't because of sales. It isn't because of remodeling or a nasty visit from the health inspector.

They all closed because of staffing issues.

Yep! It appears that nobody wants to work in that fast-paced environment of flipping burgers and hash. True, there's places where waitresses can make good money in tips, but sadly, nobody gets tipped at a KFC.

But they can make $12 per hour.

The sad reality is that both TC and GR have one unfortunate thing in common: the rent's too damn high. If one only makes $12 per hour, they might find themselves living in a rusty old trailer in Rapid City.

Same with Grand Rapids. When the economy sucked and I was making less than $10 per hour in the 2000s, I should have been living with either parents (not an option) or with a roommate (also not an option since I had only one bedroom). Now, I'm making twice of what I was making and I STILL can't afford a nice house here in GR. Same with my mother, and she and I make roughly the same wage and hours.

The other day here in GR, I drove past a Moe's Southwest Grill and they had a sign in front of their joint that read, "now hiring: $11 per hour". Now, Moe's is owned by a company called Roark International, which also owns Arby's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Carl's Jr./Hardee's and minority stakes in Culver's and Jimmy John's. The company was named after a main character in Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead". Although Rand had a lot of makings of a progressive, many of her characters - including Howard Roark and John Galt from "Atlas Shrugged" - ended up being heroes of the right.

I'll betcha that if any place hires in people at $11 per hour, the service will suck and chances are that they probably won't have any real education. They probably won't even take their job seriously. Plus, turnover might be sky high.

Here's a solution to help the problems regarding staffing issues: RAISE THE FUCKING MINIMUM WAGE TO $15 PER HOUR! Do companies want loyal, hard workers? Well, there you go. Trust me, when companies treat their employees well, they will work well and customers will be happy. Companies that treat their workers well will see increased sales and better quality. As I mentioned, I was getting shit pay in the 2000s. The reason why was because I had an ex-boss who treated
his people like shit, especially me. Towards the end of his tenure, turnover in my department was sky high. Thankfully, he retired and as soon as he did, our company's sales starting booming again and I got raises for the first time ever.

The point is, if a company - like a restaurant - can't keep workers, it's their fault. When the economy does well, the people will return, and when a company has to close because they pay their workers shit, well, that's their problem.

When a bad business doesn't change with every new day, nobody's gonna miss them.

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