The Minimum Wage Eats Restaurants

[Teddy B 17,252]

14 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

What profit margin do you think small businesses achieve?  

 

Full-Service Restaurants

Full-service restaurants at all levels spent about 32 percent of each dollar on the cost of food and beverages, 33 percent on salaries and wages, and from 5 percent to 6 percent on restaurant occupancy costs. Profit margins, however, varied according to the cost of the average check per person. Those with checks under $15 showed a profit of 3 percent. Those with checks from $15 to $24.99 boasted the highest profit margin at 3.5 percent. Finally, those with checks of $25 and over had the lowest profits, at 1.8 percent.

 

Limited service or fast food restaurants may be a bit higher at an average of 6%, but that is also not very large, yet people still go into it for success.

 

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/average-profit-margin-restaurant-13477.html

So where do you get a 1.5% profit from? Your own story doesn't even agree with that number.

[IAMX 3,055]

11 minutes ago, Nature Boy Flair said:

Everybody in America is free to start their own business if it's so lucrative 

It sure as hell isn't easy. I partnered with my mother's ex (who is a cop) to start up a security company in the Bay Area. Company wasn't profitable until like the third year (was pumping out my own income into our capital account), and when it came time to move to Canada, to avoid being double taxed (which didn't work that well anyways once I got a job in the oil industry here), I was lucky we got a windfall so I sold my partner my share of the company, then he later sold it for even more than both our shares. There was only one person on the payroll that was even close to minimum wage, a kid who only did meager janitorial work.. the idea that I would have to pay this kid $15/hour, and give everyone else wage increases because some nutty liberals think they can run a business better (and idealize every single job as living wages) is absolutely stupid.

Edited May 17, 2017 by IAMX

[Teddy B 17,252]

11 minutes ago, IAMX said:

Now that you've given the ammo..

 

https://liberalsbackwardsthink.com/2015/03/06/the-4d-nutwork-of-liberal-debate-deride-distract-deny-demonize/

 

Regarding business "profits" and the following year, a businesses leftover profits need to be roughly, as in more or less, the same amount as their receipts for the entirety of the previous year, presuming stability. If you take the "average" small business profits of 5%, versus a business' net worth (equity), if their leftover profits were, say, 100k, that would be a fraction of the millions they would need to cover the next year's expenses. 

 

Clearly you have absolutely no clue. Businesses that even run a petty 5% margin still rely nearly exclusively on month to month net profits just to help pay for the next month's expenses. So the idea that they can even remotely fund anywhere close to a years worth of expenses from their prior years leftover money would only be said by someone that needs to recuse himself from the discussion as he has no idea of the difficulty of running a business.

 

- Sincerely,

 

Someone with an education (two degrees) and work background (15+ years) in business management.

This post has nothing to do with the percentage based pay plan I am talking about. When you grasp the concept let me know.

[IAMX 3,055]

Just now, Teddy B said:

This post has nothing to do with the percentage based pay plan I am talking about. When you grasp the concept let me know.

Make up your mind.. are you talking about random irrelevant percentages? Or are you talking about businesses affording their next year's expenses on their net profit? Entertain us, you're all over the place and flailing pretty hard to save face.

[Dashinka 25,856]

27 minutes ago, Teddy B said:

So where do you get a 1.5% profit from? Your own story doesn't even agree with that number.

I guessed.  I think 1.5 and 1.8 are pretty close.  However, all you are suggesting is that all businesses implement an annual profit sharing plan.  Many already do and it is great when goals are met, not so great when they aren't.

[IAMX 3,055]

2 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

I guessed.  I think 1.5 and 1.8 are pretty close.  However, all you are suggesting is that all businesses implement an annual profit sharing plan.  Many already do and it is great when goals are met, not so great when they aren't.

That's exactly right. It's not uncommon for businesses to go some months with a deficit due to normal operating costs. Or, in leftyspeak, they need to go close up shop. I think the fascination solely with margins is irrelevant to this discussion. Businesses can still operate on net losses. What matters more is working capital.

[Teddy B 17,252]

3 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

I guessed.  I think 1.5 and 1.8 are pretty close.  However, all you are suggesting is that all businesses implement an annual profit sharing plan.  Many already do and it is great when goals are met, not so great when they aren't.

The 1.8% in the article was a fraction of the breakdown for one company, the high number in that breakdown was 3.5% so the average would be around 2.6%. But yes the premise of the plan I suggest is basically a profit sharing plan that applies to wages. The company will use the previous years profit numbers as the scale for the following years payroll. If the company had a great year, then everyone prospers, in turn if they have a down year then so don't the employees. Most companies maintain within a percentage point or so on profits every year, so we aren't talking about drastic swings either way here unless there is a major change with the company. No plan is perfect and I know that this plan I suggest would need to be tweaked to be effective, but the premise is solid and in the end it would take more people off of gov't assistance.

[Ban Hammer 14,274]

one personal insult removed. 
discuss the topic and cease the jabs at other members.

[OriZ 3,165]

6 hours ago, Teddy B said:

Oh oh, that pic gave away my true identity. 

 

Sorry to say that if a business owner is putting in a lot of hours and is only earning $15 per hour and cannot afford to pay an employee a living wage, then that company probably shouldn't be in business to begin with.

 

5 hours ago, bcking said:

No I have never ran a business and I likely won't ever. First off, private practices aren't what they used to be in medicine, and second my specialty doesn't lend itself to a private practice since it is hospital-based. There are some "independent" groups that are then employed by hospitals to run NICU's but I won't ever start one or run one myself. I prefer it that way.

 

That being said, I still have not heard any argument from you or anyone else why a business owner doesn't need to pay his/her employees are living wage. I don't care if business owners aren't making the 15 dollars themselves. They chose to start that small business, they are choosing to take on that risk and have the potential benefit of the equity/value of the business itself, and the future growth. I would never trust a business owner saying to his employees "Hey once we start doing better, you'll get more but for now you need to accept below minimum wage". As we've seen over the last decades with the growth of salaries, businesses don't significantly improve the lives of their employees as they grow and become successful. If they do, it is still far far less than what they do for the upper management and the investors/owners. The real winners are always at the top.

 

I'm sure every business struggles at first. But any good business should have started with a plan before opening up. They should have worked into that plan fair wages for whatever employee(s) they wanted to hire. They should have planned for that. If they didn't plan for it, they struggle and want to cut corners by hiring employees for less than they should be making to survive, they deserve to go under.

 

If you are continuing to want to argue that small businesses should be allowed to pay employees so little that the employees live in poverty and can't afford basics (shelter, food, healthcare), I'm really not sure what argument you are going to present that will convince me. We may just be fundamentally different about this. Everyone deserves a certain standard from their job. If the job can't provide it, the job needs to change or that business doesn't deserve to exist. The "American Dream" isn't for everyone, and shouldn't be built by taking advantage of others.

I'm on vacation guys and the wife would kill me if I spend all my time here so excuse me if in order to find your answers I have to again, redirect you to a thread from a few months ago, where all the answers can already be found instead of typing them all over again:

 

 

[Teddy B 17,252]

5 minutes ago, OriZ said:

 

I'm on vacation guys and the wife would kill me if I spend all my time here so excuse me if in order to find your answers I have to again, redirect you to a thread from a few months ago, where all the answers can already be found instead of typing them all over again:

 

 

Slacker!

 

Enjoy your vacation Ori, my turn next week.

[bcking 3,157]

3 hours ago, OriZ said:

 

I'm on vacation guys and the wife would kill me if I spend all my time here so excuse me if in order to find your answers I have to again, redirect you to a thread from a few months ago, where all the answers can already be found instead of typing them all over again:

 

 

Where at if you don't mind me asking? I find as soon as I get back from one vacation, I have to plan my next one. I was in Ecuador in March and now I'm itching to go somewhere else so I've been surfing through websites on Botswana. The joys of not yet having children.

[Dashinka 25,856]

1 hour ago, bcking said:

Where at if you don't mind me asking? I find as soon as I get back from one vacation, I have to plan my next one. I was in Ecuador in March and now I'm itching to go somewhere else so I've been surfing through websites on Botswana. The joys of not yet having children.

New Zealand is always a great destination if you haven't been there yet.  

[OriZ 3,165]

13 hours ago, Teddy B said:

Slacker!

 

Enjoy your vacation Ori, my turn next week.

lol, thanks. Where ya goin?

 

9 hours ago, bcking said:

Where at if you don't mind me asking? I find as soon as I get back from one vacation, I have to plan my next one. I was in Ecuador in March and now I'm itching to go somewhere else so I've been surfing through websites on Botswana. The joys of not yet having children.

Well when I wrote that I was in Anchorage. Then I was in Whittier and now I'm on my way to the Hubbard Glacier. Glacier Bay, Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan are to come. In case that didn't give it away we're on a cruise in Alaska. I hear you though, I started planning this as soon as we got back from Vegas last year. If I went to Ecuador the Galapagos would be a definite stop.

[IAMX 3,055]

34 minutes ago, OriZ said:

lol, thanks. Where ya goin?

 

Well when I wrote that I was in Anchorage. Then I was in Whittier and now I'm on my way to the Hubbard Glacier. Glacier Bay, Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan are to come. In case that didn't give it away we're on a cruise in Alaska. I hear you though, I started planning this as soon as we got back from Vegas last year. If I went to Ecuador the Galapagos would be a definite stop.

Interesting.. one of my buddies made this exact trip, not only the cruise around Alaska (Glacier Bay, Juneau, Ketchikan are eerily familiar places) a few years ago but Ecuador last year. Are you a photographer?

Edited May 18, 2017 by IAMX

[Teddy B 17,252]

4 hours ago, OriZ said:

lol, thanks. Where ya goin?

 

Well when I wrote that I was in Anchorage. Then I was in Whittier and now I'm on my way to the Hubbard Glacier. Glacier Bay, Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan are to come. In case that didn't give it away we're on a cruise in Alaska. I hear you though, I started planning this as soon as we got back from Vegas last year. If I went to Ecuador the Galapagos would be a definite stop.

We're going to Grand Cayman Island for a week, we leave Sat morning.

 

I've done the Alaskan Cruise, been to all of those ports, it's a lot of fun.