Shop Talk

Jimmy John’s franchise fires union workers after sick-day campaign

The owners of 10 Minnesota Jimmy John’s sandwich shops — where a rare unionization vote was narrowly rejected last year – have fired six union organizers.

The terminated workers are members of the Industrial Workers of the World, a formerly high-profile union better known as the Wobblies, and said they were fired after they put up 3,000 posters (shown here) around Minneapolis as part of a campaign to win paid sick days.

Michael Mulligan, president of MikLin Enterprises Inc, which operates the affected Jimmy John’s restaurants, told Reuters that the terminated union workers “crossed well over the line of protected activity” with their latest appeal.

“The posters dishonestly state that Jimmy John’s workers are forced to work while sick and suggest that the health of customers is at risk when eating at our restaurants,” said Mulligan, who characterized the IWW as anti-capitalist, anarchist and socialist.

“These posters are false and misleading at best, and in the view of our company, they are defamatory, disparaging and dishonest,” added Mulligan, who said that his business has operated for a decade and served 6 million sandwiches without getting diners sick.

Most fast-food restaurant workers receive low wages and get little in the way of benefits such as health insurance. Paid sick days are a rarity in the industry, which is known for squeezing out costs in order to offer low-priced fare. One exception is San Francisco, which in 2007 became the first U.S. city to require employers to give workers paid sick leave.

Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, a restaurant workers organization, in October released a study showing that  nearly 88 percent of workers reported not receiving paid sick days and that more than 63 percent of all restaurant workers admitted to cooking and serving food while sick.

Root beer, roast beef, fish & chips: Who’s buying?

There’s a new batch of quick-service restaurants on the block – Arby’s, A&W and Long John Silver’s – and according to YouGov BrandIndex, A&W is the most popular of the three.

A&W, founded in 1919 and known for its root beer, had the trio’s highest satisfaction rates, said YouGov BrandIndex, which does daily consumer perception research on brands. 

A&W and Arby’s had higher satisfaction scores than an average of about two dozen fast-food chains, while Long John Silver’s fared worse. (See graphic below)

“A&W and Arby’s have a core group of supporters and satisfied customers,” said Ted Marzilli, global managing director for YouGov BrandIndex. “If I’m a buyer, that’s a strength.”

Marzilli predicted that all three brands would find buyers, although prices and other terms likely would differ.

He said A&W and Arby’s could be reinvigorated by buyers who focused on their strengths, while Long John Silver’s is more of a turnaround story.

Another big question is whether any of the chains will snag a valuation as rich as the one attached to Burger King’s $3.3 billion sale to 3G Capital last year.  The $24 per share sale price represented a 46 percent premium to Burger King’s price before news of the negotiations emerged.

Jimmy John’s workers in Minneapolis unionize

Here’s a Labor Day story for you: Newly unionized workers at nine Jimmy John’s sandwich shops in Minneapolis took to the streets over the weekend to protest minimum-wage pay, inconsistent daily schedules (some as short as one hour), and a lack of sick days.

“We formed a union to fight for change, starting at Jimmy John’s today, and throughout the entire fast food industry tomorrow,” David Boehnke, a union member said.

Only a handful of fast-food workers are unionized in the United States. They are highly likely to earn minimum wage and to be employed on a part-time basis, which makes them ineligible for benefits like health insurance and paid vacations. (Full-time workers who earn the national minimum wage of $7.25 per hour would make $15,080 a year — just above the federal poverty line of $14,570 a year for a family of two.)

The newly minted Jimmy John’s union members are part of the Industrial Workers of the World, which has grabbed headlines for its efforts to unionize Starbucks workers.

This week, they are calling on IWW members in other states to help them pressure Minneapolis Jimmy John’s franchise owners Rob and Mike Mulligan to negotiate.

“We are very proud of our employment record in Minneapolis and take issue with the claims by the IWW. We value our relationship with our employees and offer competitive wages and good local jobs,” the franchise owners said in a statement. They declined to elaborate, a spokeswoman said.

Jimmy John’s is a 995-restaurant chain with its headquarters in Champaign, Illinois, according to the company’s web site.

Is KFC’s Double Down a double whammy?

KFC’s new, artery-choking Double Down sandwich is getting lots of media buzz — but is it helping the brand?

The breadless “sandwich” is just the latest in a long line of decadent dishes from fast-food chains. It features bacon, cheese and “the Colonel’s” special sauce sandwiched between two boneless grilled or fried chicken filets.  It’s a low-carb dream but a healthy eater’s nightmare as it is loaded with calories, salt and fat.

The Double Down landed in stores on April 12,  about a year after the company introduced healthier grilled chicken nationwide. Its debut has nutritionists calling foul and served as fodder for late night jokes, food blogs — including those run by CNN, the Los Angeles Times and Consumerist —  and all those guys who make videos of people eating the latest headline-grabbing fast food.

But according YouGov BrandIndex, which does daily consumer perception research on brands, the Double Down has helped erase all of the perception gains KFC won with the launch of its healthier grilled chicken.

KFC’s “buzz score” levels had been steadily declining for the past month, leading up to the Double Down’s debut last week, YouGov said. Such scores can range from 100 to -100 and are compiled by subtracting negative feedback from positive. A zero score means equal positive and negative feedback.

KFC’s buzz score, which fell as low as 11.5 on the day of the Double Down debut, was 24.4 on March 1 and is currently trending around 14.

Shift FROM thrift? Are diners trading up?

After a much heralded “shift to thrift” during what has become the longest and deepest recession since the Great Depression, diners are now saying they plan to spend less money at cheap fast-food chains and more at some pricier eateries like Darden‘s Red Lobster and Olive Garden chains, Chipotle and Maggiano’s Little Italy from Brinker. 

“Trading up is supported by fewer customers saying they’re ordering less expensive items, skipping beverages and choosing less expensive restaurants,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Larry Miller wrote in a client note. Miller regularly polls diners about their spending plans. 

“Confidence in the economy is improving and those planning to spend more at restaurants cited better job security and less need to save money,” said Miller, who added that consumer spending plans at Starbucks were also ”less bad.”

Are you trading up on food — or anything else — after trading down?

On the front lines of the coffee war

By Laura Isensee

On her way to work in downtown Los Angeles, banker Teresa Roman recently picked up a large iced vanilla coffee. Her cup had no green mermaid, the iconic Starbucks symbol. Instead, it displayed McDonald’s famed golden arches.

Roman switched from Starbucks iced coffee to McDonald’s when the fast-food giant started selling lattes, mochas and cappuccinos as part of its McCafe beverage expansion that launched officially earlier this year.

One would think the move from McDonald’s would be disasterious for Starbucks, which already had been slashing costs and closing stores after overbuilding during the real estate boom. But for all the angst over McDonald’s noisy entry into Starbucks territory, it doesn’t seem like Roman’s behavior is the norm.

Information from coffee drinkers, analysts and data suggest that McDonald’s and Starbucks are appealing to very different customers.

As part of our reporting, we talked with caffeine-starved workers in downtown Los Angeles. They said they chose their joe based on a variety of factors ranging from convenience and price to taste. 

“It’s not about saving money. It’s about an alternative taste,” said Stova Wong, who picked up a medium regular coffee – three creams, one sugar – at McDonald’s before heading to work in the IT department at a law firm. He now splits his coffee habit evenly between Starbucks, McDonald’s and mom and pop shops.

Chick-fil-A eyes California growth

Privately held Chick-fil-A has plans to open 50 new free-standing restaurants in California within the next five years — a move that would more than double its presence in the nation’s most populous state.

While most of the company’s 35 California restaurants now are located in suburbs or smaller cities, many of the new outlets are planned for Los Angeles and San Diego.

While it eyes California growth, Chick-fil-A is testing its Spicy Chicken Sandwich in the state. Restaurants in Baltimore and Jacksonville have had the sandwich since last year, but the recession has delayed a roll-out to the entire 1,440-restaurant chain.

(Photo: Chick-fil-A)