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Shake Shack Raises Its Prices To Bolster Workers' Wages
By
Gaby Del Valle
Published Jan 7, 2017
Modified Jan 7, 2017
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Scott Lynch/Gothamist
By
Gaby Del Valle
Published Jan 7, 2017
Modified Jan 7, 2017
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Shake Shack is raising its prices by a couple dozen cents per burger, and the new revenue is being used to pay employees higher wages.
Eater reports that employees at Shake Shack's NYC locations will now be making $12.50 an hour, $1.50 more than the city's new minimum wage. The company also raised some manager salaries to just above the proposed federal overtime limit of $47,476, which was blocked by a Texas judge in November 2016, and raised the salaries of managers who were already making upwards of $47,000 annually as well.
"Despite the injunction, we made the conscious decision to raise pay across the board to exceed the threshold for some of our managers," company spokesperson Adam Shapiro told Eater.
Although some people have expressed faux-concern over the minuscule uptick in prices, Shake Shack is banking on customers shrugging off a 20- or 30-cent difference in the cost of a burger.
All Shake Shack employees are also eligible for health insurance plans and 401k matching, as well as other benefits. "We looked at the food world and said 'Over the last 20 to 30 years, America has moved so far in terms of how animals are raised, in terms of caring how vegetables have grown, in terms of environment,'" the chain's founder, Danny Meyer, told Business Insider last September. "Isn't it time to think about how people are paid?"
The salary increases will be covered by a slight increase in prices—approximately 1.8 percent—although some menu items, like fries and frozen custard shakes, won't be going up in price.
Shake Shack's classic ShackBurger will now cost $5.55 in New York City, a 26-cent increase from its previous price. After tax, the burger will cost just above $6. In New Jersey and on Long Island, the burger will cost $5.39, a 10-cent increase. The Chick'n Shack's cost also rose by 26 cents and now costs $6.55 in the five boroughs.
The burger joint's priciest burger, the 800-calorie ShackStack which includes a beef patty and a fried portobello mushroom stuffed with cheese, will now cost $9.95, a 36-cent increase.
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