*It’s been a very long time coming, but servers at Waffle House will start to see an increase in pay in the not-too-distant future. HuffPost reports cites a video from the privately-owned, Norcross, GA-based company’s CEO Joe Rogers III that explains plans to increase pay for servers over the next three years. As a result, some workers will likely see raises in the form of a few dollars an hour more in what they take home.
In the clip (watch below), Rogers noted the impact of the pay increases, saying it would “affect every single salesperson at Waffle House,” in addition to it being funded by menu price increases targeted at stores in areas with high costs of living.
The raises apply only to servers and are set to go in to effect this month.
“This is a big deal, a massive additional investment,” Rogers said in the video, in addition to revealing the play for the pay raise had been in the works for more than five years. “And I don’t see many others in our industry doing things like this.”
Examining the situation, HuffPost noted that most Waffle House locations are spread across the South, where restaurant workers typically earn a low “tipped minimum wage” supplemented by gratuities.
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In Georgia, for example, Waffle House workers can earn less than $3 per hour directly from the company, with tips expected to push them above the standard minimum wage of $7.25.
Rogers added that the new pay plan would increase servers’ direct wages from Waffle House. Regarding gratuities, there would be no changes in the way workers receive those.
“It would be crazy if we went down the road of service charges instead of tips,” Rogers said in the video.
Known as a sit-down diner with inexpensive eats in the South, Waffle House has around 2,000 locations.
News of Waffle House’s raises come amid criticism it has received from its workers, who are struggling to make ends meet to cover basic expenses on such low pay.
Although she welcomes the pay increase, Cindy Smith, a 50-year-old server at a Waffle House location in Conyers, Georgia, believes she will still eke by and barely cover groceries for herself and her son. In an interview, she revealed that after 30 years with Waffle House, she currently earns $2.92 per hour before tips
“This is a win. We did this,” said Smith in an interview, who expected a pay bump of $3 per hour or more. “It’s good, but it’s still not enough.”
As the video continued, Rogers stated that most workers would fall into one of three categories depending on where they work: those whose base pay would reach $5.25 per hour in two years; $6.25 in two and a half years; or $7.25 in three years.
Workers in Florida and Colorado would see their wages climb higher than that due to state minimum wage laws.
The plan includes pay differentials to reward workers with long tenures, according to HuffPost, which touched on the fact that servers would receive a 50-cents-per-hour bonus after three years, and this increases by 10 cents every year thereafter, with a maximum bonus of $3.20 per hour after 30 years.
Workers could also get shift premiums of up to $1 per hour for working evenings or overnight.
As with all changes in business, the customers are affected. For Waffle House dinners, the effect will come via higher prices to offset the pay increases. This will be noticed, particularly in urban markets, according to CEO Rogers.
“Our menu prices in a rural town are relative to competitors’ menu prices in that rural town,” Rogers said. “So we may not have as much room to increase prices as we have in a large city.”
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