In America, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, and has been since July 24, 2009. CEO compensation has grown 940% since 1978. Typical worker compensation has risen only 12% during that time.
You don’t even want to know how much wealth billionaires have added to their portfolios only since the pandemic began.
True story.
A couple of friends of mine made their way through college by rummaging through the dumpsters behind Dick’s right about at closing time. I don’t know that they necessarily needed to dumpster dive. I think they thought of it as subversive. I think they thought of it as delectably subversive. After all, a freshly tossed burger recovered from a dumpster behind Dick’s—washed down with a Rainier or an “animal” beer—would be considered quintessential Seattle.
It can’t be anywhere else but Seattle, because the founders of Dick’s, which began in the mid-50’s, chose not to franchise. There are less than ten locations around the Greater Seattle metropolitan area and they all remain family-owned.
Dick’s founders also chose to pay a living wage and provide scholarships for their employees as well as health care which—these days—includes dental. They’ve donated millions of dollars to charities and donated tons of burgers and fries toward worthy local causes.
I lived in Seattle for 25 years. I didn’t frequent Dick’s but, as I learn more and more about their business practices, I wish I had made the effort to vote with my pocketbook when I was jonesing for some burger joint fare. I’m not a fast food supporter to begin with but, if you are craving french fries, fast food outlets are your best bet and supporting Dick’s would have dovetailed nicely with my philosophical bent.
I was modestly aware of how generously Dick’s treated their workers, even during the last century, well before the Fight for $15 movement. My significant other had a friend who worked at Dick’s as a fry cook who had the majority of his college tuition covered by his employer. Dick’s has long been ‘ahead of the curve’ because it was baked—or should I say grilled?—into their philosophy from the start.
From their website:
Our Co-founder and namesake, Dick Spady, believed in a business philosophy that continues to guide us today:
Step 1: Make a profit…
A business that doesn’t make a profit isn’t any good to anyone.Step 2: Invest in your employees…
Because it’s the best investment you can make.Step 3: Invest in your community….
If your community thrives, your business will thrive.
Now, I don’t know what Dick Spady’s, and his other founders’, political leanings might have been. (Dick Spady died in 2016 at the age of 92 which means he was born just after the Spanish Flu pandemic, during the Roaring ‘20s and just prior to the Great Depression). I don’t know if Dick’s founders were influenced by any of the radical ideas that were floating about the Pacific Northwest at the time. A region once referred to as the ‘Soviet of Washington’ (“There are forty-seven states in the Union, and the Soviet of Washington,” FDR’s Postmaster General James Farley supposedly joked in 1936) is also the home of co-housing developments, intentional communities and half-realized utopias. The International Workers of the World—Wobblies—once had an oversized presence in Washington—even Spokane!—as well.
Regardless of how the founders of Dick’s came to their business model, it has been a resounding success story. It is proof positive that you can pay fast food workers handsomely and be generous with perks and continue to provide inexpensive, quite edible All-American fare. There is nothing remotely gourmet or healthy about Dick’s tried-and-true menu—burgers, fries and shakes—but it satisfies a non-picky Seattleite’s need for instant fast food gratification.
Even mega-billionaire Bill Gates has been known to frequent Dick’s Burgers.
(I like his ‘kicks’. Do you think he tipped?)
I imagine Dick’s Drive-In Burger joints have done gangbusters throughout the pandemic. They never had sit-down seating anyway. You’ve never had to go inside to order. Dick’s aims to get you in-and-out of their whole process in minutes—which is why they refrain from substitutions—minimizing your exposure to the unvaccinated and the sickly. You can probably get away with spending less than $10 even if you get a burger, fries and a shake!
As I said, I have not been the demographic for Dick’s for quite some time. Consequently, I only have a handful of my own Dick’s experiences and they are unremarkable. (No Bill Gates or Eddie Vedder sightings, for instance). My days of wolfing down cheap burgers, or any burger derived from mammals, was over ages ago. President Clinton’s insatiable appetite for burgers of all kinds but, specifically, for the tiny little sliders from White Castle, may have been part of my reason to forego the siren call of America’s favorite comfort food. (So insatiable he would include a burger stop during his occasional jog. Maybe this was a fever dream or fake news or merely reinforced by a scene from Primary Colors.)
Even though I am not a Dick’s patron, I salute their determination to treat their employees well no matter the economic climate. I am sure Dick’s CEOs and founders are very well compensated, but I am philosophically buoyed that it’s not at the expense of their “ground floor” employees. McDonald’s CEO was paid $22 million in 2018. In the same year, the median worker wage in Portland, Oregon, was $7,700—a ratio over 3,000 to 1—and I am confident child care was not part of those McDonald’s workers wages.
Once more, from their website:
Dick’s is a family-owned company. We treat our employees like family. Dick’s employees enjoy better pay and benefits than employees at any other fast food restaurant in the Seattle area.
Our core values are Integrity, Quality, the Golden Rule and Industriousness. If these values align with your own, Dick’s can be a fantastic place to jump-start your career in any field! Our employees have used the work ethic and experiences gained from their time at Dick’s, along with our scholarship, to pursue many different educational or career goals in multitudes of fields.
$19/hour in Seattle
Dick’s employees earn a base wage that varies from $19/hr to $20/hr (only at the Broadway & Queen Anne locations)
Shift Managers earn up to $7/hour over-and-above their base wage. Store Managers earn considerably more and all are promoted from within the company.
$28,000 Scholarship
All employees have access to a $28,000 scholarship benefit as soon as they pass their first skills test. This training takes the average employee 12 weeks, but some complete that training in as little as 6 weeks. Employees can use this scholarship for any college, vocational or self-improvement program.
Childcare Assistance
As an extension of our Scholarship Program, childcare assistance of between $5,000-$9,000 per year is available to employees as soon as they pass their first skills test. This training takes the average employee 12 weeks, but some complete that training in as little as 6 weeks.
If an employee doesn’t use any or all of their available scholarship fund for tuition, they can use it for childcare.
Free Health Insurance
Dick’s offers 100% employer-paid health insurance for all employees. Children are covered at 75%, spouses at 50%.
Dental coverage is 100% employer-paid for non-smoking employees, 50% for smokers.
You need to be 16 years of age and up to apply. Please note that there’s a bit of incentive for their employees to quit smoking. I didn’t see anything on their website about the need to be vaccinated for employment, nor do I see it in this graphic.
If so, that is a “fly in the ointment”. Vaccinated employees are not a big ‘ask’.
But let’s not allow perfect to be the enemy of good.
Eat at Dick’s Drive In Burgers!
Cheap enough that there should be no need to dumpster dive.
Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments in Seattle, pays a “minimum wage” of $70,000.
Also, here’s a reason to be cheerful from the Reasons to be Cheerful website. Carbon capture technology thousands of times more efficient than a tree, plus it can also produce energy. Don’t ask me how, I’m a leisurist, not a scientist. (Dammit, Jim! I’m a doctor!…..) Enjoy!
Thanks for reading and sharing as I try to gather momentum going into the 2022 mid-terms! - JLM
I am not typically a fast food consumer either....BUT I have to confess that Dick's Burgers are a guilty pleasure now and then. I love their business model and that they have ALWAYS taken great care of their employees. I would be curious to learn more about their sourcing practices, but as you said in your article, let's not let perfect be the enemy of good. Between the several recent articles about Dick's, family and work conversations about Dick's over the last couple of days, and the fact that I live less than 10 minutes from one of their locations did lead me to pick up lunch on the fly there yesterday. I did indeed have a Dick's Deluxe burger, fries and a medium Coke for under $10.
While one might think that Dick's ought to be thriving during the pandemic, they have not been immune to the far reaching effects of the pandemic - labor shortages, supply chain issues, etc. They have had to reduce their hours significantly due to labor shortages in spite of offering $19/hr and a host of benefits better than many "career" jobs out there. Fewer hours means fewer sales. They have had to delay openings of new locations. Revenue is down and staff is in short supply.
Buy a Dick's burger or fries if you're vegetarian. Be kind to the person taking your order. Working in the service industry is more challenging than ever as we all get more and more fed up with pandemic life.
Hey! How come I didn't get a shout out little bro?