
Why Aren’t Paychecks Growing? A Burger-Joint Clause Offers a Clue - aaronharnly
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/27/business/pay-growth-fast-food-hiring.html
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pavement
Wow! That's actually _really_ interesting! but...

It still doesn't provide for the reality that most large chains are fairly
efficient, and optimized to begin with, resulting in most tasks being dumbed
down to the point that actual last-mile labor activity is mostly unskilled.

Whether or not a worker in a fast food restaurant can foment a bidding war
between two locations, operating the same brand, for his or her skills as a
human resource, is negated by the fact that there isn't much skill beyond
being a warm body. All the hard work of a fast food franchise is performed in
the supply chain, by accomplishing delivery of a uniform meal across wide
areas of service.

Diners, Chinese take-out and other varieties of greasy spoon don't have this
problem, because there isn't anything unique about what the preparers do. The
only time you see contention for personnel, is when identity and distinction
separates one from another.

Rare situations such as recipe inventions, and new menu items come from
innovative chefs who dream up things like the Cronut. Unless something like
that is in play, this protection clause is somewhat vestigial. Most franchise
agreements render such innovation impossible anyway, since deviating from
branded products represents a violation of terms all its own.

