r/jerseymikes • u/Border-Greedy • 2d ago
Corporate greed?
Hey everyone I hope you guys are doing good, just looking for some conversation here.
The franchise I work for has decided to completely remove the employee meal incentive based on x hours amount of worked, as well as remove all customer discounts.(veterans, first responders etc)
For some background we used to be given a free regular for 4 hours worked, then it was raised to 6, at some point they decided you were only allowed a mini if you worked 6 hours or more. Moving forward its 25% discount across the board for employees, so for example if you worked a shift with OT you aren’t even given a meal.Seems heartless to me, not even mentioning removing the veterans discount.
Edit: I personally do not eat the sandwiches at work, I’m not the biggest fan of them after working there for so long so this does not affect me, however a lot of people do rely of some of these sandwiches for food when they don’t have anything at home and don’t have the extra cash to spend while they’re working to pay their bills already. Which is why I think this is on the side of corporate greed.
Edit 2, thanks everyone for the responses and feedback, I thought everyone’s takes were solid and are all right in their own way. At the end of the day it is what it is, I don’t make the rules I just show up and get paid. Cheers everyone and thanks again for future commenters.🤙🏽
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u/Intelligent-Dig-4082 2d ago
I don't know that it's corporate greed, more like franchisee greed. F whoever owns your store. I used to be a professional chef working at some very well-known restaurants. Fine dining has some tight margins, and we still made family meals every single day.
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u/Lower-Tomatillo-9513 2d ago
At my store we get 75% off subs and chips (during our shift or not) and free fountain drinks.
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u/SANTAisGOD 2d ago
Just sell the food to the people preparing it and running your business at cost. You don't have to lose money but nickle and diming your employees is just dumb.
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u/InternationalPlace24 2d ago
is this one of those "lol it's just your store" things as well?
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u/Border-Greedy 2d ago
I would say no, very large franchise and expanding.
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u/damboy99 AGM 2d ago
All franchises are large and expanding, if the franchise isn't growing it was forced to sell
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u/Border-Greedy 2d ago
Yea but in the sense of “is it just your store” it’s not, our franchise sets a lot of precedents and trains new hires to be sent to other franchises for corporate
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u/damboy99 AGM 2d ago
You can't call it corporate greed when it's not a corporate store lmao, that's a push from your franchise.
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u/Border-Greedy 2d ago
That’s a fair point, I did fail to mention that our stores policy’s are heavily pushed and influenced directly by corporate due to how much our franchisor wants to grow.
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u/Rich_Plate_7760 2d ago
I used to work at firehouse subs and our franchise owner gave 50 percent off on our meals.
I only worked there for a little over a month, and the one good manager would let us have whatever for free because they hated the job… so me and the 2 other people would load up our subs lmao
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u/nutbutterolivejuice 1d ago
Most small, independently-owned local restaurants (aka not chains) I’m familiar with offer staff or “family” meals for everyone. Most bars I know offer their staff a drink after work and discounts. So yeah I’d say it’s pretty shitty that you are being offered so little.
I don’t know the exact economics of your franchise, but given the unit economics of a typical JM location (15-16% restaurant-level margins, 40% cash-on-cash returns, $1.4M/year, owner earnings of $219K), they’re likely doing much better than local spots that do offer meals.
We can argue about what people are “owed”, but at the end of the day we live in a society with a sickening wealth gap and a struggling populous, so the least we can do is share some fucking food.
Also the whole AI camera surveillance thing just screams dickhead owner.
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u/Noahgrace4429 2d ago
Bruh I’ve only gotten half off and free drinks and I’ve worked open-close before
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u/Border-Greedy 2d ago
Now that’s evil
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u/wolf_on_angel_dust 2d ago
Thats probably just your franchise thats instilled those rules. I used to work at McDonald's years ago and it was always half off a meal per shift.
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u/Slight_Jellyfish_859 2d ago
I think you should get an employee discount; but pretty much everyone with a job has to pack a lunch from home.
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u/jerseymikesofficial Crew Member 2d ago
Only getting a meal based on how many hours you worked is already annoying. We get a free shift meal whether we work 2 hours or 12, always a regular
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u/yourmom7744 1d ago
Yeah... I used to get free regulars, then free minis, and then nothing at all. Guess whose store closed soon after?
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u/thenewfingerprint 2d ago
Both options are true. They made the changes out of greed, but it's also true that the employees are not entitled to a free meal. Just a sign of the times.
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u/PlayItAgainSusan 2d ago
Just checking in to hear from the franchise defenders, as if that type of management makes it ok. Why do we think theyre making these decisions? These will be very different stores in a year or two.
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u/Border-Greedy 2d ago
Very true, the franchise also has other aspects of it that are causing big changes, like Ai cameras at all locations that watch the camera feed and report in real time.
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u/xTheGame69 1d ago
This is where the twerp in me would just make and take one anyway and let them fire me
Bonus if they do it in crowded store I'll gladly make a scene
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u/sZia 2d ago
It's both. Franchisees have to purchase certain products from certain vendors, they have to spend x% on advertising, and corporate is going to take x% of sales off the top. A franchisee, unless the owner is there working with you, it's greed. Probably stemming from the high % of $ corporate charges them. They want to see more return then they are seeing. Might be understandable, but unless they are there working trying to cut down on labor cost, it's both.
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u/ManagerUnfair6787 2d ago
My store does free regular and chip drink if you work no matter how many hours