Burger King Cuts Fat in Massive Layoff
Burger King was gobbled up by private equity firm 3G Capital in a $4 billion deal earlier this year. Now, the new owner is cleaning house, dismissing 413 people company wide, including 261 at corporate headquarters in Florida.
The burger chain has hundreds of thousands employees worldwide, but the vast majority of those workers are by franchisees at low wages. The people affected by this layoff were mostly high-paid executives who work directly for BK corporate. Prior to the layoff, an estimated 500 to 700 people worked at the Florida headquarters, so 261 lost jobs in Florida alone is a pretty substantial hit.
The layoffs, though painful, were not a huge surprise. Private equity firms are known for their slash-and- burn approach to management; they cut jobs like crazy to save money and turn a bigger profit. Plus, a series of missteps since the start of the recession have left Burger King even farther behind McDonald’s, so a shakeup was probably necessary.
Rank and file workers aren’t shedding a tear for their former corporate bosses. "It doesn't affect me,” says one minimum wage restaurant worker. “They killed a lot of the people who had high salaries, paid vacations, and prestige. Now we can have more people working for lower pay, which brings better service." Snap!
Heather Mills vs. McDonald’s
Tabloid villain and Paul McCartney-ex Heather Mills is back in the news with plans to create a vegan franchise chain that she claims will be “bigger than McDonald’s” in 10 years. Ms. Mills is not exactly known for making rational statements, so it’s hard to take her at her word.
Her grand plan to challenge one of the biggest corporations in the world has gotten off to an inauspicious start. Mills launched her first VBites restaurant in England last year, but she has temporarily closed shop until March of next year to “brainstorm” new concepts. “VBites has been phenomenally successful this year,” she tells one British paper. “Everyone loves the food, even carnivores. Plans for it to become a franchise are very much on."
We’re sure Ronald McDonald is quaking in his big red boots.
Moe's Southwest Grill: Experience required
Want to open a restaurant franchise? If it’s a Moe’s Southwest Grill franchise, you’ll have to scrub the toilets first. Before it accepts new franchisees, Moe’s makes potential buyers complete a month-long unpaid internship at an existing restaurant. And, yup, that includes polishing the porcelain.
Moe’s president Paul Damico explains the 10 hours per day, six days per week internship is a way to separate serious franchise candidates from window shoppers; it’s also a way to ensure that candidates have real-world restaurant experience before opening up a franchise.
So along with $300,000 in liquid assets and $1 million in net worth, potential franchisees also need to know how to prep the food, greet customers, work the cash register, and sweep the floor. So far, four people have completed the internship and the first graduate just opened a Moe’s franchise in Chicago.
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