• The KillerFrogs

JJ Watt - Buy it back

Frog-in-law1995

Active Member
It has been over a decade since I worked at this one particular company. New ownership came in told us they were taking away our company trucks and gas cards in exchange for a $250 per month gas allowance and we drive our own vehicle while calling on customers daily. They said this move benefited us the employee and how much better this was going to be for us. I called BS on this during the meeting in a direct but professional manner. Needless to say, my days were numbered.

Why don’t they ever just be upfront and say they are discontinuing a perk/benefit instead of blowing smoke up everyone’s azz. Do they think people are that stupid?

That’s absolutely what they think. Every time.
 

netty2424

Full Member
It has been over a decade since I worked at this one particular company. New ownership came in told us they were taking away our company trucks and gas cards in exchange for a $250 per month gas allowance and we drive our own vehicle while calling on customers daily. They said this move benefited us the employee and how much better this was going to be for us. I called BS on this during the meeting in a direct but professional manner. Needless to say, my days were numbered.

Why don’t they ever just be upfront and say they are discontinuing a perk/benefit instead of blowing smoke up everyone’s azz. Do they think people are that stupid?
They don’t want people jumping ship immediately leaving them holding the bag. Yet they plan on doing the exact same thing in short order. Corporate greed is a sonofa [ hundin].
 

CryptoMiner

Active Member
Unfortunately they’ll run this thing into the ground. That’s what big corporations do. They come in, tell everyone nothing’s going to change, then they’ll slowly start cutting wages, reducing benefits, turnover will increase.

They’ll buy from whomever’s got the cheapest ingredients. The beef won’t be beef anymore. The quality will suffer.

Disappointing to say the least. It will happen.

Everything becomes about profitability and how to line a handful of executive pockets while their employees work long hours and still live paycheck to paycheck.

Not correct. Bottom line Whataburger has had a high turnover rate to start off with so look for some improvements. Wages are already low also.

The goal of BDT will not be to cut expenses but build equity through expansion and ultimately go public. Profits are not really a major concern initially so do not look for much to change in store operations.

Of course running deficits isn't a long-term ideal but that should not be an issue as more franchises open.
 

netty2424

Full Member
Not correct. Bottom line Whataburger has had a high turnover rate to start off with so look for some improvements. Wages are already low also.

The goal of BDT will not be to cut expenses but build equity through expansion and ultimately go public. Profits are not really a major concern initially so do not look for much to change in store operations.

Of course running deficits isn't a long-term ideal but that should not be an issue as more franchises open.
Congrats on your company’s purchase. But you don’t have to lie to us, we aren’t your employees.
 

Ron Swanson

Full Member
It has been over a decade since I worked at this one particular company. New ownership came in told us they were taking away our company trucks and gas cards in exchange for a $250 per month gas allowance and we drive our own vehicle while calling on customers daily. They said this move benefited us the employee and how much better this was going to be for us. I called BS on this during the meeting in a direct but professional manner. Needless to say, my days were numbered.

Why don’t they ever just be upfront and say they are discontinuing a perk/benefit instead of blowing smoke up everyone’s azz. Do they think people are that stupid?
Why won’t you just say what the company is? You don’t work there anymore.
 

Purp

Active Member
They don’t want people jumping ship immediately leaving them holding the bag. Yet they plan on doing the exact same thing in short order. Corporate greed is a sonofa [ hundin].
This is a definite concern. A little over a year ago my company was sold by smaller PE to very large PE. Then the very large PE took our 2nd largest competitor private and merged us. After the merger the company had 2 plants about 5 miles apart in Dallas. Lots of people could see the writing on the wall, but they gave us a lot of sunshine and rainbows to propagandize our employees with.

I left for a new opportunity in November. Since then my old boss, our maintenance manager, 2 ops managers, and our shipping manager have either left or been reassigned. One of my buyers also left another is close to leaving. My old boss was the glue holding that place together. Now that management turnover is causing havoc and turnover at the line supervisor level. This is not the labor market you want to start having that problem in. Perfect example of how high level execs make decisions based solely on numbers without understanding the nuances at the plant level and the plan backfiring in epic fashion.

I feel bad for the folks on my team who are still there, but I'm glad I left when I did. They had to shut down production for a week at one point last month bc Shipping was so far behind they couldn't find the units they had to ship bc they were so buried by other units. The interim guy filling in for my old boss is a real piece of work and is the absolute wrong guy for that place right now.
 

froginmn

Full Member
Whatever J.J.'s plan may be, the reaction is understandable. The sheer horror of a treasured Texas fast-food institution lost the the whims of a mysterious gang of creepy Northerners (J.J. may think of them as Southern, but, it's Wisconsin, eh...) is the stuff of pure nightmare. And yet, somehow, it happened. Soon, Chicken and Biscuits slathered in honey butter will be gone, replaced by bland Yankee Pot Roast.

Ye Gods...
I find comedy in the fear of purchase by a PE firm in Chicago. Somehow if the PE firm were in Houston, they would ignore the cost savings in replacing the iconic ketchup.

Hoping nothing changes nonetheless; a WB with jalapenos is a go to whenever I'm in Texas.
 

netty2424

Full Member
I find comedy in the fear of purchase by a PE firm in Chicago. Somehow if the PE firm were in Houston, they would ignore the cost savings in replacing the iconic ketchup.

Hoping nothing changes nonetheless; a WB with jalapenos is a go to whenever I'm in Texas.
Although dominos is not a southern based company, there are plenty of locations nationwide, but it’s laughable when they throw huge pepperonis on a pizza and call it “New York-style” pizza.
 

BrewingFrog

Was I supposed to type something here?
I find comedy in the fear of purchase by a PE firm in Chicago. Somehow if the PE firm were in Houston, they would ignore the cost savings in replacing the iconic ketchup.

Hoping nothing changes nonetheless; a WB with jalapenos is a go to whenever I'm in Texas.
The purchase by any P.E. outfit is pretty much chicken-fried death. That the outfit is based in a place where snow is regular merely rubs salt in the wound...

I have my favorite Whataburger locations, particular stores where the service is always good and the food is about as close to the ideal as possible: Robstown on 77S, Goliad at 59 and 183, and Port Lavaca on 35S. My dog is particularly fond of the Goliad location. They know it's him when I order the "Double-meat Whataburger Jr. with cheese and bacon, plain and dry."
 

Limp Lizard

Full Member
I have seen restaurants ruined so many times by menu/recipe changes. Often the bean-counters try to save a little, and the customers do notice. Or the new company changes the menu to fit the taste buds of their executives (I lived in Indiana for 3.5 long, long years, and "chili" was basically beans in ketchup with a little chili powder...ugh!).

As far as lying to employees, I have been through that 3 times. The worst was in San Antonio when the parent company hired an "efficiency" company with a written note to employees that jobs were not to be lost. I knew one of the top execs who later told me that the "efficiency" company was payed by jobs/payroll eliminated. Their justification report was a joke(basically took the number of jobs to eliminate and back-calculated to arrived at "efficient" payroll levels...to round numbers!) Later the company was sold. The other two were the old "everything is fine" then announce plant shutdown.
 

Ron Swanson

Full Member
I have seen restaurants ruined so many times by menu/recipe changes. Often the bean-counters try to save a little, and the customers do notice. Or the new company changes the menu to fit the taste buds of their executives (I lived in Indiana for 3.5 long, long years, and "chili" was basically beans in ketchup with a little chili powder...ugh!).

As far as lying to employees, I have been through that 3 times. The worst was in San Antonio when the parent company hired an "efficiency" company with a written note to employees that jobs were not to be lost. I knew one of the top execs who later told me that the "efficiency" company was payed by jobs/payroll eliminated. Their justification report was a joke(basically took the number of jobs to eliminate and back-calculated to arrived at "efficient" payroll levels...to round numbers!) Later the company was sold. The other two were the old "everything is fine" then announce plant shutdown.
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