The Great Resignation

Weeeeell... That's a bit of a philosophical debate, something highly relative and somewhat subjective.

1. Where are you? A living wage where I am, here in southwest TN, is MUCH cheaper than, say, Los Angeles.

2. What do we assume is included? Are we counting cost for housing, food, electricity and water alone? Are we including cost for the things our ancestors never had but we now consider essential, such as phone service, phone data service, various TV streaming services, etc?

In a competitive environment for those available to work the 'low' pay' you're going to offer may prove to be problematic in hiring / retaining employees.

I fully concur with you Billy.

Oh wait... Did you say in another thread that you are relocating to Tennessee?

That's tourist, JesusLives, JStates and now you... Maybe I've been TOO loud about how nice it is to live in Tennessee. Oh well. The more the scrappier. Or something like that.

Which general part of TN are you targeting again?

Wherever you live, it doesn't matter what business you have, if your employees cannot get to and from work, pay for groceries, shelter and clothing for their family, then you shouldn't be in business.

Several months ago, McDonald raised the starting wage to $14 per hour, $28,000 a year for full time work. That set the standard for all other employers.
That is $3000 above the poverty level for a family of 4 in my state.
My wife knows a lady that has worked there for 3 years and makes $17 per hour plus free health insurance. She is not a manager, just an hourly employee. Because they still cannot hire help, she averages 6 to 8 hours OT every week.
This lady made over $38,000 last year.
If people are willing to work, and I mean work, there is no reason they can not provide food, shelter, and clothing for their families.
Amazing how many would rather beg or accept government assistance instead of working for at McDonald.

Middle central. Nashville area...right on the county line.

In the end it will come down to supply and demand.. If people are not being attracted by the pay on offer then they will not sign up.. and on the other side if costumers refuse to pay the higher prices for food then they won't come.. So if this situation is happening then the business owner either needs to do without employees or shut the business down and find another business opportunity..

If the society creates a High cost Low salary society this is the inevitable outcome.. Business shutting down..

But as more businesses shut down then the number of food business will decrease and so the supply for costumers will decrease and therefore the prices the surviving food businesses will be able to charge for their service will increase..

America has been in a situation similar to this before. In the 50's and 60's. Lots of jobs...not enough people.

That may depend on where you live. The McDonald's where I live didn't do that, because I work there and I haven't got anything like that yet.

This is just a hunch but... I get the STRONG impression you are currently employed and feel very strongly that you should be making more than you make.

Nope nope nope nope. Too far to commute, whatever you are paying.

I might pop out for lunch though, just to see what the place and food are like.

Well it's not exactly going to be a restaurant but come on over. We will be open in the Fall. More like a great coffee house. It will be a place where you are allowed to bring your own coffee cup... won't mind in the least even if it's a normal big one. Then get yourself a Danish or something. You will be pleasantly surprised with a tasty treat. Hang out on a couch or easy chair and chat. I'll get done myself around 3.

Wait, what?

You haven't even moved to Tennessee yet, and you already know what time you will be done for the day on a normal business day?

And are you making these danishes from scratch? Like, with flour, sugar, cheese, etc? No pre-mixed stuff?

I already live here...
And yes, everything will be made from scratch. Nothing pre-mixed... nothing from frozen processed junk.

Baker's scale, flours, eggs, butters, and etc.
Flour isn't just flour... butter isn't just butter...there's a wide variety to choose from and my next project (after buying the equipment) is to visit the flour mills to secure our various flours needed to make our breads and bakes.
I got coffee roasting classes in the middle of April to attend.

I've already graduated culinary school a LOOONNNG time ago.

God's and my name is going on every last crumb out of our place. Not someone else's corporate name cleverly hidden. We are focused on letting people know their community... from the farmer who grew the wheat to the mill that ground it and the baker? Well that's me.

We aren't faceless corporate giants...we are people contributing to the community with our talents and skills.

Fun fact: There are french chefs who refuse to give their recipes to americans because we can't get the kind of butter they use, and the recipe would taste different here.

At least you can get (sort of) mascarpone these days for your tiramisu. That's some consolation.

I know a dairy in southwest TN that can provide real milk, from goats and dexter cows. Don't know if they can produce enough to supply a business though.

Yeah...
Dairies are on the list after flour mills.
It depends on what I can get shipped here in a regular basis.
Most of our dairy here in Nashville has been coming out of Florida.
Most of that is because of the Yoplait factory in Murfreesboro.

Purity and Mayfield both got bought out by Dean Foods 15 years ago. Dunno if I'm going to use them or not. Butter, half-and-half, and milk are going to be used a LOT by our coffee shop bakery.
I need stable and consistent products... that corporate giant seems to have a lock on most of the production.

But I am open to a quality local product line as well. I really liked Mayfield before they got bought out.

But I gotta get the equipment secured first. Probably going to have to make a run into Yankee territory to grab some. This is proving to be a huge challenge. I think that we got a construction crew locked in and we gave a LOI last week on a building.

It's been a ton of work putting everything together up to this point. Just some more to go and it can be the easy part of just making dough every day. 5 months and counting.

Don't get me started. Companies should be required to put "WARNING: We have sold out and the quality is changing" on the label when they pull something like that.

The only GOOD sellout I have ever seen was when Moto sold out to Lenovo. That was actually an improvement. Every gastronomic-centric sellout I've ever seen resulted in lower quality.

On a related note, don't buy modern Swing-A-Way can openers. They ain't near as good as the 22 year old can opener I am still using today.

Was the monkey on the left thinking "Hey, he got a grape! Why did he get a grape when all I get is this lousy cucumber slice?" or was he thinking "Hey whoa, I didn't notice that! There are GRAPES at stake here?!"

I don't think it's unequal payment the monkey is protesting. I think he's just not getting what he wants. I'd be interested in seeing an extension of that study where BOTH are aware there are grapes and they are offered cucumber slices instead.