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View Full Version : WHAT ABOUT EMPLOYEES??? New ownership!



Sooooperman
09-21-2013, 04:49 AM
I have been a manager of a small family owned restaurant for the past 7 years and I am currently in the works of taking over 100% of the ownership. If I were to become the owner I would basically do much more work than what the current owners, and this would result in several full time employees not being required by me. Since we are all "at-will" employees, can I make any changes I want in terms of employees hours, vacation time, health benefits? I just need to make sure that when I become owner that I have the ability to make whatever changes I need to the staff.

Steve B
09-21-2013, 08:00 AM
Wow - you really MUST be sooooperman to be able to do the work of several full time employees. Did the current owner just have these people sitting around doing little or nothing? I've certainly seen situations like that before - this is what makes it a great opportunity for you.

The answer to your question depends a lot on where you live and how many employees work in the organization. Without that information, it's impossible to give you a credible answer.

Sooooperman
09-21-2013, 09:36 AM
I live in California and there are about 20 employees. Yes most of the work I would be taking over is prepping of food and I would be increasing my work days from 4 days to 5 or 6. Which would eliminate about 40 hours if not more a week. The current owners basically pay people to do all of their work, where as I would take over and do the work myself. Especially since the current workers take their time and "milk" the hours they are there.

DisQ
09-21-2013, 07:14 PM
I would be increasing my work days from 4 days to 5 or 6. Which would eliminate about 40 hours if not more a week.
Huh??

Thats 20 hours work per day assuming you add 2 days)
What are those people doing there?
You are right to change things if it is that bad.

Sooooperman
09-22-2013, 02:17 AM
Currently there are 2 people who are there in the morning for about 4 hours each. So around 8 hours a day and since I would take over 6 of the days with my co owner we would save at minimum 6 x 8= 48 hours a week. And since we are on salary we are not restricted to showing up earlier and prepping more food for the next day as well. The system in place right now is very inneficient especially when you have employees who want to take their time so they are on the clock more.

Steve B
09-22-2013, 09:08 AM
O.K., but 48 hours per week is not equivalent to "several" full time employees. In my world a full time employee is 32 or more hours per week. So, you and your partner will be replacing a little more than one full-time employee.

I don't mean to be picky, but a lot of new owners tend to over estimate the immediate impact they might have on a situation. You not only need to be realistic and accurate in your math - you should be conservative as there are often things you may not account for.

Sooooperman
09-22-2013, 12:45 PM
. Since the other owner and myself would then be working 2 more days each we would not need to pay the other 2 managers who each pull 10 hour shifts. 2 employees x 10 hours a day x 2 days = 40 hours. 48 hours + 40= 88 hours. And I haven't even added the hours we could save during dinner time. And since we are there all day we have the ability to do prep in the slow time. 88 hours a week x 2 weeks = 176 hours a pay period

Steve B
09-22-2013, 06:20 PM
Sorry - you used the word "I" in your first two posts with no mention of your partner. Now you are up to two employees that you may be able to displace, but don't forget you want to be able to work ON your business and not just work IN your business.

I'm not familiar with the laws in CA regarding downsizing and their application of the "at-will" term. Being under 25 employees will insulate you from some federal laws.

Patrysha
09-23-2013, 11:45 AM
If you are working a gazillion hours doing prep and on the line who is taking care of the business? Training, Customer Service, Marketing, dealing with the trades and suppliers? Have you done prep full time before? How are you going to deal with the inevitable wrist pains and back ache that come with that? How are you going to sit down and run your prime cost calculations and preform menu engineering when you're run down from working in the kitchen and dealing with the stress of putting out fires that inevitably come up in managing a restaurant?

Freelancier
09-25-2013, 11:10 AM
Yeah, I also see some unrealistic expectations about the difference between being a manager and being an owner. Being an owner means you're also covering for anyone who calls in sick, whether you're sick or not. Being a manager sometimes means that also, but it also means you're not as vested in the outcome, so you have so slack room to call in sick yourself.

As for what you can do with employees, whatever you do, you're going to run into unemployment compensation issues. There's a cost to firing people and having them collect unemployment. Although that cost is often not huge, it can go up quickly when you fire more people and only goes down slowly when you stop, so there's a cost involved. You should also check into your state's health insurance requirements for full-time people... you're likely exempt, but there's also a recruitment cost if you don't offer basic benefits to some full-time employees.