California Fast Food Restaurants Shed Thousands of Jobs after $20 Minimum Wage Hike https://t.co/TwFBK03Imc — Paul Epps (@paulepps) December 6, 2024 Who could have seen that coming?! Read more →
EppsNet Archive: Fast Food
Financial Reporting by Liberal Arts Majors
Payrolls popped by 272K in May — linkedin.com Yippee! They are part-time jobs. There was a significant decrease in full-time jobs and the unemployment rate rose to highest in over two years. (The photo above of the Now Hiring at Pizza Hut sign is from the actual LinkedIn story. I like it. Very appropriate.) It would be helpful to get some context around this 272,000 number, beyond just “Payrolls popped.” Nice alliteration though. Who says there’s no value in a liberal arts degree? Read more →
California’s Workers Now Want $30 Minimum Wage
California’s Workers Now Want $30 Minimum Wage — msn.com In January, California raised the minimum hourly wage from $11 to $16. In April, the minimum wage for fast-food workers went to $20. That’s a problem if you own a fast-food restaurant because in addition to the increased labor cost, you’ve got to deal with inflated prices for beef, poultry, vegetables, eggs, etc. You can either eat (no pun intended) the costs yourself or pass them on to customers, some of whom will become former customers because they can no longer afford to eat at McDonald’s. Another option is you can lay off workers — 10,000 fast-food workers in California have lost their job since the $20 minimum wage took effect. Nobody learned anything from that because now they want $30/hr. If you think about it for a minute, you’ll realize that if you have skills that are worth $30/hr, you’d… Read more →
Fast Food Robots
How robots are helping address the fast-food labor shortage https://t.co/xh8Ghv9rZX — Paul Epps (@paulepps) January 21, 2023 There’s not really a fast food labor shortage. It’s created by the fact that unemployment benefits and ObamaCare subsidies can total up to $120,000 per year for a family of four. Not bad! If you can make six figures for doing nothing, you wanna go be a fry cook? The robots address the fact that the absurdly high numbers that people want to make for minimum-wage work is well beyond the value that minimum-wage workers add to the bottom line. The real minimum wage is always zero. Read more →
Scorching Hot Cuisine
This pack of chips caught my eye at the Circle K today so I bought one. The clerk pointed out on the back of the package that the chips were classified as “FREAKIN’ HOT,” accompanied by a temperature gauge with the needle pegged in the far-right, bright red FREAKIN’ HOT sector. To no one’s surprise, except the Circle K clerk, the chips weren’t any hotter than a bag of Doritos. Have you ever gone to a fast food place where they sell a product like a jalapeno burger advertised as SCORCHING HOT? Then you take a bite and you’re like, “That’s it?” No company can produce a mass market food product that can only be tolerated by maybe one percent of the population because they can’t sell it, which is the opposite of what they want to do. They want to sell a lot of them. If you want to… Read more →
That Can Be Cleaned Up on a Resume
McDonald’s employee filmed choking, punching customer over alleged complaint about cold fries FOX 11 Los Angeles How I would phrase that on my resume: Acted promptly to resolve customer complaints. Read more →
At the El Pollo Loco Drive-Thru
“Does that complete your order?” “Yes.” “Would you like some chips or guacamole with that?” “What did I just say?” Read more →
If I Were a Cardiologist
I drove through Carl’s Jr. for lunch . . . “Would you like to try a Triple Bacon Cheeseburger?” the girl asked. Triple?! A triple bacon burger!? The burger itself is 1,300 calories. If you go with the combo, it’s well over 2,000 calories. If I were a cardiologist, I’d be sending a thank you note to whoever thought this up . . . Read more →
Sometimes I Get My Product Names Mixed Up
Driving through McDonald’s this morning . . . “Hi, I’d like a Big Mac and an iced coffee please.” “We don’t have Big Macs right now.” “You don’t have Big Macs?!“ “Not till 10:30.” “You won’t have Big Macs till 10:30?!“ “It’s breakfast right now.” “Wait . . . did I say Big Mac? I meant Egg McMuffin. Do you have those?” “Yes.” “Excellent!” Read more →
A Bite of Nostalgia
I drove through Carl’s Jr. today for lunch . . . “Would you like to try a Western Bacon Cheeseburger?” the girl asked. “Yes, that sounds good.” The Western Bacon Cheeseburger was a favorite of mine when it was introduced in the early 1980s. A taste of nostalgia! I was tempted when I got to the window to ask why she’d recommended a Western Bacon Cheeseburger and not some new-fangled menu item as is customary, but I was afraid she’d say they just had a couple lying around and needed to get rid of them . . . Read more →
Management Tips From the Pros: Put the Best Employees on the Drive-Thru Window
If you manage a fast food restaurant and you’re reading this, I beseech you to put your best employees at the drive-thru window to mitigate problems that wouldn’t arise in a face-to-face transaction. For example, I drove through Del Taco today for lunch . . . after the obligatory “Hi, welcome to Del Taco, would you like to try our new Queso Something-or-other,” I said “No, thank you, I’d like a Spicy Grilled Chicken Burrito and a large Coke Zero.” “Would you like a churro or something sweet for dessert?” “No but thanks for asking.” “OK, your total is . . .” After several seconds of silence, I decided to pull forward, give her some time to work through the math, and get the total at the window. After I’d gone about 10 feet, I heard her say “Wait, you wanted a burrito?” The car behind me hadn’t moved up,… Read more →
Lesson Learned at the Drive-Thru
This Coke Zero I got at the Del Taco drive-thru tastes more like root beer than any other Coke Zero I’ve ever had. Possibly the guy in front of me or behind me is wondering right now why his root beer tastes like Coke Zero. Note to self: In future visits to fast food drive-thrus, take a sip of the drink before driving off with it. Read more →
See You in Hell
[See You in Hell is a feature by our guest blogger, Satan — PE] Greetings from the underworld! Friends have asked my opinion of the new Diablo hot sauce from Taco Bell . . . I love the name! You call that hot?! See you in Hell . . . Read more →
The Day is Off to a Disappointing Start
After I already ordered and paid for my breakfast taco and extra large Diet Pepsi at Del Taco, the girl informs me that they’re out of extra large cups. “I can’t believe it,” she says. “And I already charged you for it!” “Hmmm . . . just give me a large then, if you have any large cups around.” “I’m so sorry. Next time you’re here, I’ll give you a free one.” “The extra large soda really holds the whole morning together for me.” “I know, I’m a big soda drinker myself. My boyfriend is too and so is my dad. He lives on extra large sodas.” “Drinking extra large sodas is one of the great pleasures of life, in my opinion.” “The large cup feels small in your hand, doesn’t it?” “It does. I like things that feel big in my hand.” Very disappointing. This never happens at Taco… Read more →
How to Tell if Your Food Server is a Robot
I’ve been reading some articles recently about increased use of robots in the food service industry. I think we had a robot server the other day at the Jack in the Box drive-thru. My boy ordered a medium Mountain Dew with his meal and I ordered a large Coke Zero with mine. “Which one is the Mountain Dew” I asked the woman (robot) at the window as she handed us the drinks. “The medium one,” she said. Only a robot would answer the question that way. A human would say “The yellow one.” Because it’s a dopey question and a human recognizes why it’s a dopey question and answers accordingly. The robot only knows that the medium drink is the Mountain Dew and the large drink is the Coke Zero. Read more →
I Can Still Eat
Hi everybody! It’s me, Lightning! My owner bought each of us a chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A. He’s a fast eater but I ate my whole sandwich before he was even half way done with his! I’m very old now. I can hardly see, hear or walk. But my eating ability has not dropped off AT ALL! — Lightning Read more →
Eat Mor Chikin
I like Chick-fil-A. I like that they put people with a mastery of English at the drive-thru, and I especially like that, unlike every other fast food outlet, they never ask me if I’d like to try the latest menu item. Carl’s Jr. is the worst offender in this area. They seem to constantly have new items on both the breakfast menu and the regular menu so no matter what hour of the day I show up, they have something to force feed me. “You have a huge picture of that item right here on the menu. It’s not like I’m unaware of its existence. Why can’t you just let me order what I want to order and stop badgering me?” It’s rude. They don’t do it face to face because they know it’s rude. They don’t “would you like to try” you if you get out of your car… Read more →
Minimum Wage Proposal: $0.00
You can’t make ends meet on 8 bucks an hour? I can see where that would be a problem. When did fast food jobs become jobs for family breadwinners? Fast-food jobs are for high-school kids. You want to make $15 an hour? Simple: get a job that pays $15 an hour. What’s stopping you? Other than your lack of skills, education, motivation and accomplishments? If no employer is willing to pay you $15 an hour, then guess what? You’re not worth $15 an hour. You need to do something about that. Why is $15 an hour the magic number? Why not $16? Or $17? Why not $50 an hour? At $50 an hour, everyone would make a nice 6-figure income and poverty would be a thing of the past, right? If you raise the price of a product or service, the demand for the product or service goes down —… Read more →
Japan, Day 8: Walking in Tokyo
Things you notice when walking in Tokyo . . . 1) There are lots and lots of people . . . 2) Most of them are not very tall . . . 3) Because there are a lot of people in a small amount of space (even though they are small people), Tokyo is built to take advantage of vertical space. For example, I’ve never seen a two- or three-story fast food restaurant in the U.S. but they’re common in Tokyo. Businesses that usually are two or three stories in the U.S., like department stores, in Tokyo are eight or ten stories. Flying back home tomorrow . . . sayonara! Read more →
A $15 Minimum Wage is Not Going to Help You
Fast Food Workers Will Strike On Thursday In L.A. : LAist Fast food workers staged a one-day strike for “living wages.” More specifically, they want the federal minimum wage to be raised from $7.25 an hour to $15. You want to make a living wage? I’ll tell you how to make a living wage. I’ve had a lot of jobs and this method has never failed me. Here it is: Before accepting a job offer, you always ask yourself, “Does this job pay enough for me to live on?” And if the answer is no, then you don’t take that job. If you want to earn $15 an hour, do what I do: get a job that pays $15 an hour. Who’s stopping you? If no one’s willing to pay you $15 an hour, it’s because the skills, intelligence and motivation that you bring to the table don’t allow you… Read more →