FrutaFertil t1_j685m37 wrote on January 28, 2023 at 12:30 PM

Reply to comment by brick1972 in Everyone is asking for a tip these days by leavingthecold

I don’t think you know a ton tbh. And I say this as someone who is really upset by the way 7 Stars pays their employees. But the customers always pay for the employees thru the tips or the price but you always pay. I don’t think 7S had increased prices in a minute and the cost of raw ingredients must be wild af at this point. Other bakeries I follow mention soaring prices of butter and eggs.

FYI it was the workers who had lobbied for years to have the POS collect tips. The new owners are bazillionaires from Barrington so idk why they’re paying below minimum wage… but I highly doubt their “house of cards” will be toppled anytime soon if the traffic at Hope St and Broadway is any indication.

brick1972 t1_j68hf7b wrote on January 28, 2023 at 2:24 PM

I went yesterday and the prices were about a 20% (a dollar essentially) more expensive than they were just after Christmas on the things I looked at. My sandwich was $9.75 where I last remember paying $8.25 though of course memory isn't perfect. This was the jewelry district location maybe they charge more there generally.

I know my own experience and have seen tons of businesses fail - we all have. 7S with the new owners have increased prices higher than inflation even inflation adjusted for their specific raw materials (other than eggs in the last month of course thanks to the avian flu) You are telling me they also pay less. I was hoping part of this price increase was them paying a better wage. Therefore they are extracting profit on both sides - driving down their labor cost while increasing margins on their prices. That can go as far as the demand will allow them and so far, as you note, demand has kept up with the prices. But there are limits. And clearly they are not in the business as an ego trip or personal passion and they do care about profit.

But I do thank you for letting me know that the employees are paid as tipped employees now.

Now beyond any specifics for seven stars none of this changes my point. If to pay your people a fair wage you have to charge $11 for the sandwich instead of $9.25 then just put $11 on the sandwich and let me decide if I want it at that price. Somehow the entire world outside of a couple countries can work on this system but in the US it's impossible because reasons.

FrutaFertil t1_j6bb0vs wrote on January 29, 2023 at 2:38 AM

In the US it’s impossible to do it like that because the culture and structure of this society is “fuck you, I got mine” so nobody wants a $11 sandwich when there’s another one for $9.25 and who cares how the $9.25 one gets made and how much the workers earn. I feel like someone made that point to me earlier on this thread so I’m just kinda regurgitating. Also most of the entire world operates under worse conditions for service workers. Unless you’re specifically thinking of Europe, where things are different because society believes in strengthening the safety net (not so much recently)… anyway hope that makes sense to you!