Ice Cream Store doubled pay to $ 15, flooded with purposes

  • It is not just large companies that are raising their wages to attract workers, but also small ones.
  • After an ice cream parlor doubled its wages, over 1,000 applications were received in a week.
  • “I didn’t notice any difference in our bottom line,” Jacob Hanchar told MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle.
  • You can find more articles on Insider’s business page.

With large companies like Chipotle and Target offering higher starting wages to attract workers, small employers are following suit.

Jacob Hanchar, co-owner of Klavon’s ice cream parlor in Pittsburgh, spoke to MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle about how he suspected a labor shortage until he more than doubled his shop’s hourly wages from at least $ 7.25 to $ 15.

“We received well over 1,000 applications for 16 positions in one week,” said Hanchar. “We stopped counting when we reached a thousand.”

He said the decision to join the company was a positive one, especially in the food service industry, where high sales and burnout are major challenges in the workplace.

“A lot of people work two or three jobs and now they only work one job. People come on time now, they report that they are in a better mood, customer service has improved, things you don’t do. It’s not always that Case, “he said to Ruhle.

Financially, Hanchar said the move to double employee salaries has resulted in increased sales from customers looking to support companies that support employees, and the quality of service has increased.

“At the end of the day I didn’t notice any difference in our bottom line,” he said.

The decision is neither easy nor automatic, he added, but competition from other employers has caused him to lose his best employees and this has caused problems in other areas of the business.

“I had to really study this and look at our predictions and really think about how I was going to do it,” he said. “It’s not just strict double bookkeeping, you have to take every aspect into account.”

Are you a business owner with a story to share? Contact this author at dreuter@insider.com.

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