Seattle Subway can’t sell $5 footlongs because of big government.

[phill4paul]

Customers who enjoy sweetened drinks aren’t the only people in Seattle currently feeling the pinch of the city’s progressive policies.


Here’s a photo of a sign that’s hanging in a Seattle Subway that lays out the problems faced by both consumers and business owners in the city:

As this Subway business owner helpfully makes clear to his customers, there are a lot of extra costs for anyone operating a business in Seattle. And these costs are hurting restaurants, small businesses, and ultimately the public at large. Everyone has to pay for Seattle’s progressive policies—and all the costs outlined above—through dramatically higher prices.

Just as is often the case, the good intentions of bureaucrats and progressive politics notwithstanding, these policies have created absolutely horrible practical outcomes. Seattle’s $15 an hour minimum wage has hurt the low-income workers that it was supposed to help. Not just hurt—but devastated.

“The costs to low-wage workers in Seattle outweighed the benefits by a ratio of three to one,” according to a study conducted by a group of economists at the University of Washington commissioned by the city, reports The Washington Post. “On the whole, the study estimates, the average low-wage worker in the city lost $125 a month because of the hike in the minimum.”

A cost-benefit ratio of 3:1 and a loss of $125 a month are quite massive, as anyone living paycheck to paycheck knows. And this is a problem for low-wage workers in other cities, too, with food, service, and retail employees usually the most affected.

The $15 minimum wage hike in California, for instance, will cost the state 400,000 jobs by the time it is fully implemented, as a study by economists from Miami University and Trinity University found.

http://rare.us/rare-politics/issues/...ustomers-know/

[Danke]

“The cost of during business”. Is the owner from Texas?

[timosman]

..

[Brian4Liberty]

Seems like a lot of fast food places don't participate in price promotions when they are located in cites like San Francisco.

[Brian4Liberty]

“The cost of during business”. Is the owner from Texas?

It looks perfectly fine to the spell checker and autocorrect, which apparently are the only checks left.

[Zippyjuan]

Subway struggling- and not just in Seattle. http://www.standard.net/Business/201...t-food-chain-1

The rise and fall of Subway, the world's biggest food chain

With 43,945 sandwich shops in 110 countries, Subway has become the world’s most ubiquitous restaurant chain, posting armies of “sandwich artists” in more American outposts than McDonald’s and Starbucks combined.

Yet at the dawn of its 50th birthday, all is not well in the land of Jared and jingles about $5 footlongs. Subway’s U.S. sales last year declined 3 percent, or $400 million, falling faster than any other of America’s top 25 food chains. The mega-deli was also knocked back to America’s third best-selling food chain for the first time in seven years.

Milford, Connecticut-based Subway’s problems run close to those of fellow food king McDonald’s, the sagging-sales chain now launching a turnaround because of “challenging industry dynamics” and changing tastes.

But in some ways, Subway’s money-making challenges look even sharper than those of the Golden Arches. The average Subway sold $437,000 worth of subs, sodas and cookies last year, the smallest haul in half a decade, and about a fifth as much as the typical Mickey D’s, which pulls in $2.4 million per store.

Subway, which is privately run and closely held, would not comment. Tricia Hetherington, the company’s director of research and development, said in a statement, “We’ll continue to evolve our reasonably priced, fresh, customizable sandwiches and salads to better meet our customers tastes and needs.”

The model is enticing for small-business owners because opening a new Subway can cost as little as $116,000, company estimates show — a tenth as much as opening a new McDonald’s.

But some franchisees aren’t happy once their Subways are up and running. Franchise Grade, a franchisee polling and review service, ranked Subway number 468 in its latest report; Firehouse Subs and Jersey Mike’s Subs were numbers 107 and 108, respectively.

Analysts have pointed to discounted prices for existing franchises, some of which can be bought for the price of a car, as a sign that some owners want out. And as sandwich sales have shrunk, the pressure on franchisees has increased.

“We would love to be in a position where we could pay workers more,” Keith Miller, a franchise owner in California and head of the Coalition of Franchisee Associations, said during a conference call with reporters last month to discuss the frustrations of franchisees of Subway and other chains.

Franchisees have trouble boosting wages, Miller said, because they are under “extreme pressure” to keep the profits pumping amid sliding sales and the cost of keeping up with changing ingredients and menus.

Cost pressures on franchise owners have little direct effect at Subway headquarters. Franchisees have to pay the corporate office a $15,000 start-up franchise fee, plus a 12 percent weekly cut of all revenues, no matter how well the business is doing.

[phill4paul]

Subway struggling- and not just in Seattle. http://www.standard.net/Business/201...t-food-chain-1

Subway sucks. That's why they are doing poorly. They are not adapting to competitors like Firehouse Subs and Jersey Mikes. These two competitors do charge more for their products though. If you want meat go to Fire House. If you want lettuce and ($#@!ty) bread go to Subway.
I'm not sure a fair comparison can be made between Subway and McD's though. Seem apples and oranges when talking revenue. All the Subway shops around here are about 1/8th the size of a McD's and usually only have 2-3 employees working as opposed to 5-10.

[Zippyjuan]

Subway sucks. That's why they are doing poorly. They are not adapting to competitors like Firehouse Subs and Jersey Mikes. These two competitors do charge more for their products though. If you want meat go to Fire House. If you want lettuce and ($#@!ty) bread go to Subway.
I'm not sure a fair comparison can be made between Subway and McD's though. Seem apples and oranges when talking revenue. All the Subway shops around here are about 1/8th the size of a McD's and usually only have 2-3 employees working as opposed to 5-10.

The owner of this particular Subway says he has 18 employees between two stores which would be nine each. Spreading them out through the day would yeah probably be two or three at a time- maybe an extra for lunch/ dinner rush.

He also has his own chain of six burger joints- "Blazing Onion".

[oyarde]

“The cost of during business”. Is the owner from Texas?

british columbia

[oyarde]

Seattle is a failed communist vassal state . There should be no Subway . I mean really , how many homeless people can afford to eat there ?

[timosman]

The owner of this particular Subway says he has 18 employees between two stores which would be nine each. Spreading them out through the day would yeah probably be two or three at a time- maybe an extra for lunch/ dinner rush.

He also has his own chain of six burger joints- "Blazing Onion".

Over 30 posts today. Good job. See you tomorrow.

[Raginfridus]

Owner should leave Subway and start a Penn Station.

[Vieux Canard]

“The cost of during business”. Is the owner from Texas?

I need to see a picture of his pickup truck to decide.

[pcosmar]

Washington and Oregon are great states when you ignore the big cities.

[Danke]

How’s Jimmy Johns doing? I surprised Subway has as many shops as McDonalds.

[phill4paul]

How’s Jimmy Johns doing? I surprised Subway has as many shops as McDonalds.

I dunno. They opened a franchise here. Tried it once about a week after opening. Didn't care much for them.

[Danke]

I dunno. They opened a franchise here. Tried it once about a week after opening. Didn't care much for them.

Ya, you are probably a better fit for the foot long.

[phill4paul]

Ya, you are probably a better fit for the foot long.

No, that would be your dad. So happy that Gerald Fitz-Patrick and Patrick Fitz-Gerald were able to adopt a young man such as it were.

[oyarde]

Seattle must be made to change the name of the city . It is too insulting to have a commie retard paradise named after the Great Duwamish Warrior , Chief Seattle . The weak and wicked whites would have been wiped out off the coast of Washington without the protection of friendly tribes , a mistake that cannot be corrected now.

[Origanalist]

Subway called the guy up and read him the riot act, he took the sign down.

[Origanalist]

Washington and Oregon are great states when you ignore the big cities.

True, get out in the sticks and it's pretty awesome. But the nanny state still lives out there, just not as pervasive.

[timosman]

How’s Jimmy Johns doing? I surprised Subway has as many shops as McDonalds.

McDonalds food is very unappealing. They also have Ronald.

[Origanalist]

Seattle must be made to change the name of the city . It is too insulting to have a commie retard paradise named after the Great Duwamish Warrior , Chief Seattle . The weak and wicked whites would have been wiped out off the coast of Washington without the protection of friendly tribes , a mistake that cannot be corrected now.

Maybe they will change it to King City, they already dedicated the name of King County to Martin Luther King instread of the guy it was originally named after.

[timosman]

Maybe they will change it to King City, they already dedicated the name of King County to Martin Luther King instread of the guy it was originally named after.

Somebody should publish these results as - "Desire to rewrite one's own history positively linked to mental instability."

[oyarde]

Maybe they will change it to King City, they already dedicated the name of King County to Martin Luther King instread of the guy it was originally named after.

King City , Emerald City ( for the Green River ) etc all seems better

[Origanalist]

Somebody should publish these results as - "Desire to rewrite one's own history positively linked to mental instability."

There's a lot of that going around in Seattle.

[Mach]

Do you have your "sweetened drink papers"?

[luctor-et-emergo]

I don't understand why more stores/businesses don't advertise their prices like this. The actual price and the amount of tax you have to pay...

[Schifference]

The weight of this issue falls on the franchise. They need to adjust their pricing so as to charge higher prices to owners in less expensive markets and charge less for product in more expensive markets. There needs to be some balance. Call it a living owners wage. It is not the owners fault that he/she decided to purchase a subway franchise in an inflated market place.

[Schifference]

Do you have your "sweetened drink papers"?

In regards to the sweetened beverage tax. Beverage companies should sell unsweetened product in those area's. People can then add a concentrated sweetener in an amount that they desire.