For Wayne Pankratz, Applebee’s franchise executive, soaring gas prices are an opportunity, not a downside, for his business. That’s because, as he told the manager in a note in an email, the pool of people working at Appleby’s live “pay-to-pay” is forced to “return to the workforce” to earn more. am.
Pankratz saw another silver backing: high gas prices increase the cost of competitors, and they will not be able to raise wages to the extent they were. “We all competed to hire from a limited pool of applicants and there was a wage war,” he wrote in a note on March 9. “They can’t afford to do this anymore.”
As a result, Pankratz predicted, “We will hire employees at lower wages to reduce the workforce.” [costs].. “
Wayne Pankrats @Applebees Rising gas prices are great for businesses, as most employees can check and check and hopefully start lowering wages. pic.twitter.com/BiRfeSmsYX
— Robgill 🇨🇦❤️🇺🇦 (@ vote4robgill) March 23, 2022
Notes shared on social media have sparked a backlash against Applebee’s, and some consumers have never vowed to eat in the chain again. According to the Lawrence World Journal, three out of six managers quit their notes at a location in Appleby in Lawrence, Kansas.
“I was just stunned and tired,” Jake Holcomb, one of Lawrence’s managers who quit the memo, told the publication.
Pankratz wasn’t listed in the phone book of Apple Central, the franchise owner of his employer, Applebee, when CBS MoneyWatch tried to contact him on Friday morning. Scott Fischer, Communications Director at Apple Central, introduced his memo questions to Applebee’s headquarters.
The company kept a distance from the memo. “This is an individual opinion, not Applebee’s,” Applebee’s Chief Operating Officer Kevin Carroll said in a statement to CBS Money Watch. “This issue is being addressed internally by a franchisee that employs this individual and owns and operates a restaurant in this market.”
Employees “are the lifeblood of our restaurant, and franchisees always aim to reward and incentivize old and new team members to stay within Appleby’s family, Carroll said. I will. “
Applebee’s corporate owner is Dine Brands Global in Glendale, California, and is probably best known as the founder of the IHOP pancake restaurant chain. According to the latest estimates from Restaurant Business magazine, more than 1,700 Applebee franchises in the United States generated total sales of approximately $ 3 billion in 2020.
“Get a second job”
The Pankratz memo is also aimed at providing managers with advice on “ensuring employee morale”, with many workers “working more time or doing a second job.” You need to get it. ”
Pankratz’s advice to managers: “Be aware of it” and provide an early schedule so that workers can arrange their second job around their Appleby job. please give me.
According to Payscale, Applebee workers earn an average of $ 11.76 an hour per hour. According to the latest government data, this is well below the average hourly wage of $ 17.22 earned by people working in the leisure and hospitality sector in February. Wages in this sector rose 14% year-on-year.
Not surprisingly, the tone of the memo was criticized, and some customers vowed to stop eating at Applebee’s.
“So they admit they aren’t paying their employees a living wage, and their solution is … speed up the schedule so that their employees can plan a second job around them. What a joke? “Written a Twitter user.
Another chime is, “I think @Applebees I don’t need my money anymore. Employees are not pawns that can be used to get a cheap workforce during difficult times. I spend money elsewhere. “
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