Fast food franchise owners can make significant money, but they also know that success requires vigilance over costs, particular food and labor. And as chains have promoted low-cost menus, labor costs have proportionally risen because it takes more transactions and items, and more labor, to reach the same revenue levels as in the past.
Those labor costs in major metropolitan areas may be on the rise if fast food workers have their way. In cities like New York and Detroit, employees are starting to push for higher pay and union representation — and using strikes as a tool. Although the efforts seem concentrated among some of the largest chains, any change there will likely permeate throughout the industry.
Detroit workers staged a walkout in May, targeting one or two locations for each of six chains: Burger King, Long John Silver’s, McDonald’s, Popeye’s, and Subway. That followed similar actions in New York, Chicago, and St. Louis.