As of this post, my company is 2.5 years open and operating. I have heard lots of advice from many different people – inside and outside my industry, owners of small, medium, and large “small businesses” (anywhere from 3-100 full-time employees), employees, consultants, national organizations, various business journals and books, etc. I have not, however, talked to a uniform group like /r/antiwork, and I’d like your honest opinion on how my company sounds EDIT as a place to work at /EDIT 2.5 years in. Please, be blunt. I’ve lurked on this sub for years for many reasons, but mainly to assure that in my naïveté (this is my first/only entrepreneurial venture) I do not enact exploitative/shitty policies with regard to my employees. For what it’s worth, I consider myself pretty pro-worker, so I’m asking you to give me a reality check if I deserve one. My business is a production craft brewery (we have a large enough system and building to distribute across several states in the US) with a taproom that serves our beer and food (we have a kitchen). Here are the vital stats, as well as a few details:
- Company is not yet solvent (we are losing, on a month to month basis, anywhere from $5k-$15k, averaging about $110k-$120k/yr in losses; we have enough capital to stay open for 5-6 years before I pull the plug)
- Company opened 1 month before the pandemic
- Taproom sales are down 13% over the last year under new taproom manager
- Kitchen sales do not cover COGs + labor
- Average ticket at our brewery is ~$34, the industry standard for craft breweries is $45 but ~$52 in my area
______________________________________ - Bar staff are paid full state minimum wage in a state that lets you pay less than that for tipped employees – this represents an extra $8,000/yr in base salary than I am required to pay by law. With tips, bartenders are easily breaking $40k/yr on 30 hours
- Salaried staff are all in the 75th+ percentile according to BA (brewer’s association) data. Taproom manager, kitchen manager, sales manager, head brewer, and production manager all fall under this category. All have bonus plans that would push them into 90th+ percentile if they grow their respective areas.
- Every salaried employee is at 40 hours a week or less, except the kitchen manager. He’s at 45-50 a week. As far as hourly goes, no one is expected to do overtime, and all overtime is fairly paid. Training for hourly employees is paid at state minimum wage (this is just their base salary, no tips, and really only applies to teaching bartenders about beer and proper taproom maintenance, alcohol compliance, monthly deep cleans, staff meetings, etc.)
- I will preface this next comment by saying this brewery is in the US. Very different cultural norms about vacation here compared to, say, Europe. Most Americans say I have a good policy, most Europeans say I’m a monster. So yeah, here it is for salaried employees (hourly take off whenever so long as they find a replacement) – 1st year (date of hire): 1 week paid vacation, 5 paid personal days; 2nd year (day after first year is completed): two weeks paid vacation, 7 paid personal days; 3rd year: three weeks vacation, 10 personal days. All vacation and personal days roll over (accumulate) to a maximum of three weeks and ten personal days. Might expand that later once we have a four or five year employee.
- No health insurance. The company is a startup and we are not solvent. This is top of my priority list when we have the ability to afford it.
- No 401k matching. Second on priority list.
I could go on, but I don’t want to drown everyone in details and this seems enough to get a discussion going. What does/r/antiwork think of this startup that opened a month before the pandemic?