The working and middle classes are having a hard time. Runaway inflation hitting record highs serves as a vicious cruel tax. Everything from food to gas prices has surged. Inflation is running at nearly 8%. This means your paycheck is worth less, as everything costs more while your wages stay stagnant.
When there is a crisis, there will always be people who look to benefit from someone else’s misery. In this case, it’s Wayne Pankratz, an executive director of operations for American Franchise Capital, which owns 50 Applebee’s in the Midwest. Applebee’s has both company and franchised-owned restaurants.
The executive sent out an email to colleagues gleefully saying that the combination of skyrocketing gas prices, inflation, the ending of enhanced unemployment benefits and lush stimulus checks from the government will give the company the upper hand in dealing with workers. This would include paying staff lower wages.
The tone-deaf manager wrote, “Most of our employee base and potential employee base live paycheck to paycheck.” He added, “Any increase in gas prices cuts into their disposable income. As inflation continues to climb and gas prices continue to go up, that means more hours employees will need to work to maintain their current level of living.”
He was happy that Applebee’s is “no longer competing with the government when it comes to hiring. Stimulus money is no more, supplemental unemployment is no more.” He concludes that this “will force people back into the workforce.”
Pankratz contended that with the higher costs, people will need two jobs to survive and the company needs to make sure new workers are brought in on lower wages. “Everyone has heard that gas prices continue to rise. The advantage this has for us is that it will increase application flow and has the potential to lower our average wage.”
He also took glee in his belief that high gas and food prices will adversely impact the giant restaurant chain’s smaller mom-and-pop competitors. “We all competed to hire out of the limited applicant pool and there was a wage war. They will no longer be able to afford to do this,” Pankratz predicted.
His email was leaked and found its way to the r/antiwork subreddit on Reddit and went viral.
Here are some of the comments on the thread
AngryDrunkBureaucrt
I will continue my lifelong boycott of Applebees in solidarity.
courtneyclimax
I have actually decided to eat at another restaurant because the one we went to had a passive-aggressive sign about how “no one wants to work.” The sign may as well have said, “I’m a trash employer and business owner.” There are [eight] other restaurants in this entire strip, do you really wanna tell people you’re a piece of sh*t before they even open the front door?
Hate_Soft_Pretzels
I wish our local one wasn’t run by a guy who put up a sign explaining how nobody wanted to work. It’s not clear if he included himself after he got $320,000 or so in PPP loans during the pandemic. They closed recently, which seems suspicious because they got the money from us taxpayers to stay open.
Lewzer33
Are these sh*thead CEOs and managers copying each other’s homework? I’ve seen a few of these types in the last couple of days.
So, basically, it’s, “This high inflation is good because all the little peasants will be forced back to work at lower wages than they should really be getting, but it doesn’t matter because they’ll be desperate for the money.”
Keep making the proletariat more and more desperate. I’d like to see what we come up with when really pushed.
dontletmepost
They’re terrible food that caters to either drunk people or people that don’t have other options either because of cost or accessibility. Applebee’s are sometimes one of the only options in economically depressed rural areas, I’ve found anecdotally, at least.
The fact the execs are saying this out loud is disgusting, but places like Applebee’s have been taking advantage of the poor both as employees and customers for decades. This is their economic model.
Pankratz, in addition to coming across cold and callous, may not be too bright. Firstly, as a person in corporate leadership, he should know that there are some things that you don’t say out loud or put in writing—even if you believe it’s true.
Secondly, he’s blissfully unaware of macroeconomics. Russia and Ukraine together produce nearly 30% of the world’s wheat. The war has stopped farmers from tending to their crops. It’s predicted, and President Joe Biden already warned, there may be food shortages, due to the war and the lack of supplies. The price of food will escalate higher due to inflation and supply chain disruptions.
As the economy stumbles into a recession and gas prices keep climbing, it’s reasonable to conclude that families won’t dine out as much, in an effort to save money. This would result in fewer customers coming into the restaurants. With less business, profits will fall, hurting the bottom line for Applebee’s.
Kevin Carroll, chief operations officer at Applebee’s, said of the matter, “This is the opinion of an individual, not Applebee’s. This issue is being addressed internally by the franchisee who employs this individual and who owns and operates the restaurants in this market. Our team members are the lifeblood of our restaurants, and our franchisees are always looking to reward and incentivize team members, new and current, to remain within the Applebee’s family.”
Source: Forbes
I read this article which referenced his email and frankly was quite astounded not only by his callousness but business stupidity. But lets not forget that this Franchisee was selected by the Applebee’s parent to obtain the franchise and frankly it would not surprise me that other members of management for Applebee’s and other companies are thinking the same way, but do not put it in writing or on the TV screen. Most upper management view their employees as a cost which they would cut or reduce in a heartbeat if they could. I will not go to any of their restaurants any more but I give Kudo’s to the three managers who quit in protest.