Monday, May 15, 2017
Today's Specials:
MARKETING: LeBron James Declined $15 Million McDonald’s Endorsement for Own Food Venture
Apparently, when you have a lifetime contract with Nike worth $1 billion, it’s easy to turn away from $15 million for McDonald’s. This subtle revelation came from the latest episode of “Kneading Dough”, the digital series on Uninterrupted, the digital media company also owned by LeBron James.
DID YOU KNOWs…
#NuggsforCarter
That kid on Twitter who asked Wendy’s how many retweets he would need for a year of free chicken nuggets became the most retweeted person ever, yes EVER. To date, the tweet has 3.4 million retweets, which apparently, was good enough for Wendy’s because they announced last week that Carter will indeed be getting his year supply of free nuggets. Nugget victory.
Ghost Pepper World Record
A competitive eater named Kevin, aka the “L.A. Beast” Strahle, attempted to break the Guinness Record for Most Ghost Peppers Eaten. Just for context, ghost peppers are no joke. On a few occasion, they’ve actually burned a hole through one guy’s throat. Click here to see the heat!
Not the Sandwich We Expected
There is a picture blazing through the internet of what appears to be a man that looks IDENTICAL to the owner of Jimmy John’s posing naked with a dead shark. Owner Jimmy John Liautuad denies that is him in the picture but anyway people are not happy. Que the activist firestorm.
Photo: Anneka Svenska/Twitter; Jimmy John's
PETITION: IMPROVE FAST FOOD WORK CONDITIONS
Why it matters to you: there could be changes coming to worker rights in fast food restaurants.
The fight for safe working conditions in fast food restaurants has come a long way, but allegedly they are still not up to par with the industry standards in many places. Roughly 3,000 New York City fast food workers recently signed a petition to improve conditions and organizing rights. The petition asks New York City Council members to support a package of bills that they say would bring stability to both their working and personal lives. One of the major issues faced in the fast food industry is scheduling; where workers have reported working “erratic hours, last-minute schedule changes, and having to work countless ‘clopening’ shifts.”
First, the laws would require employers to provide two weeks' advance notice to workers of their schedules or pay them a penalty. The legislation would also require employers to offer available shifts to existing part-timers, rather than hire new workers. Plus, the laws would discourage clopenings with the use of penalties. Opponents of this legislation claim that limiting the flexibility of employers with added expenses would lead more businesses to close, incorporate more automation, which would drive down employment. With a few New York City Council members already on board, it is yet to be determined on whether the legislation will pass.
IN THE WEEDS
Why it matters to you: are you assigning too much sidework?
There are many different approaches that restaurants take when assigning their employees' side work. In an advice column for Restaurant Business Magazine examined the topic on how much side work is okay for waitstaff. The main question comes down to a few key components on whether side tasks are too overbearing. If staff members are earning a full minimum wage after tips they can technically be expected to do non-tipped work up to 20% of the time. Many of these tasks include cleaning duties, such as polishing silverware or folding napkins. Therefore, if staff is spending more time cleaning than serving tables, or anything over 20%, then it may be crossing over into a “dual employee” category.
What becomes a much more challenging problem is accurately forecasting the scale by which labor is paid accordingly. An underlying aspect of keeping our employees happy and reducing our turnover rates revolves around how our staff makes their money. Often many restaurants have received backlash for notoriously assigning a lot of side work that employees are not exactly being paid for. Other options are more expensive such as hiring staff specifically for this work or paying a full minimum wage. It is also to keep in mind that local regulations may vary depending on the state or county.
