5 ms·

There's something amusing to me about the idea of an industry that "used to be" sustainable. Guess it wasn't sustainable after all.

lrdswrk00 5y ago
It is as a behavioral habit. People always need to eat. It’s not fiscally viable closed system. Restaurants operate on tiny margins and come and go as frequently as software startups. We keep trying to hitch biological necessity to ridiculous memes of social capital accumulation, inventing more abstract and Byzantine math as if literal reality will implode if the rich can’t earn a profit. Like healthcare, the routine is eating is obviously necessary. Is the industrialization?
- tibbydudeza 5y ago
  >> Restaurants operate on tiny margins If you are a KFC/Burger King/McDonalds franchisee then it seems to work but I have lost count the number of establishments that open/closes in that one spot of our local mall. Pub/Indian/Pizza/Chinese/Fish & Chips/ - they come and go.
  - coredog64 5y ago
    I would draw a further distinction. Some franchise operations (thinking Subway and Little Caesars) don’t really care if you make it: They get their money up front and you have to pay to get out. McD is more strategic: They want a good business plan, location, etc. and are very picky at the cost of some false negatives.
    - greedo 5y ago
      They also require a huge amount of capital for new franchisees.
throwawayboise 5y ago
McDonald's and similar jobs used to be an entry level job for teens and college students. When I was 16 I was happy to work there for minimum wage ($3.35/hr at the time). Nobody other than the mangers did it to support a family. It was never understood to be that kind of job. I don't know how we got to the point where a no-skills-required job that anyone with a pulse can learn to do in a few hours suddenly became required to support a family of four.
- cratermoon 5y ago
  > Nobody other than the mangers did it to support a family. It was never understood to be that kind of job Wrong. "From the beginning, the minimum wage was meant to be a living wage—meaning families could live off of the pay comfortably, rather than struggling paycheck-to-paycheck" https://www.lendio.com/blog/minimum-wage-livable/ https://www.lendio.com/blog/minimum-wage-livable/
  - mortehu 5y ago
    The linked article doesn't really substantiate that claim, and even so it doesn't actually contradict GP's claim about the McDonald's job.
    - cratermoon 5y ago
      You're correct, McDonald's (and plenty of other large employers) probably never thought or cared whether or not their minimum wage jobs were for teenagers or parents with families. To them, it was just the least they were legally allowed to pay, and therefore just a cost to be minimized as much as possible.
  - hed 5y ago
    There are claims that it was meant to keep black people out of the workforce. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carriesheffield/2014/04/29/on-the-historically-racist-motivations-behind-minimum-wage https://www.forbes.com/sites/carriesheffield/2014/04/29/on-t...
- 5y ago

lrdswrk00 5y ago

It is as a behavioral habit. People always need to eat. It’s not fiscally viable closed system. Restaurants operate on tiny margins and come and go as frequently as software startups. We keep trying to hitch biological necessity to ridiculous memes of social capital accumulation, inventing more abstract and Byzantine math as if literal reality will implode if the rich can’t earn a profit. Like healthcare, the routine is eating is obviously necessary. Is the industrialization?

tibbydudeza 5y ago
>> Restaurants operate on tiny margins If you are a KFC/Burger King/McDonalds franchisee then it seems to work but I have lost count the number of establishments that open/closes in that one spot of our local mall. Pub/Indian/Pizza/Chinese/Fish & Chips/ - they come and go.
- coredog64 5y ago
  I would draw a further distinction. Some franchise operations (thinking Subway and Little Caesars) don’t really care if you make it: They get their money up front and you have to pay to get out. McD is more strategic: They want a good business plan, location, etc. and are very picky at the cost of some false negatives.
  - greedo 5y ago
    They also require a huge amount of capital for new franchisees.

throwawayboise 5y ago

McDonald's and similar jobs used to be an entry level job for teens and college students. When I was 16 I was happy to work there for minimum wage ($3.35/hr at the time). Nobody other than the mangers did it to support a family. It was never understood to be that kind of job. I don't know how we got to the point where a no-skills-required job that anyone with a pulse can learn to do in a few hours suddenly became required to support a family of four.

cratermoon 5y ago
> Nobody other than the mangers did it to support a family. It was never understood to be that kind of job Wrong. "From the beginning, the minimum wage was meant to be a living wage—meaning families could live off of the pay comfortably, rather than struggling paycheck-to-paycheck" https://www.lendio.com/blog/minimum-wage-livable/ https://www.lendio.com/blog/minimum-wage-livable/
- mortehu 5y ago
  The linked article doesn't really substantiate that claim, and even so it doesn't actually contradict GP's claim about the McDonald's job.
  - cratermoon 5y ago
    You're correct, McDonald's (and plenty of other large employers) probably never thought or cared whether or not their minimum wage jobs were for teenagers or parents with families. To them, it was just the least they were legally allowed to pay, and therefore just a cost to be minimized as much as possible.
- hed 5y ago
  There are claims that it was meant to keep black people out of the workforce. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carriesheffield/2014/04/29/on-the-historically-racist-motivations-behind-minimum-wage https://www.forbes.com/sites/carriesheffield/2014/04/29/on-t...
5y ago