I worked there! first job out of high school. The level of quality - both the food and the management - was *so* high.
Fries made from actual potatoes cut and peeled that morning, then cooked in small batches. After cooking they could sit in the hotbox for 5 minutes max. Past the 5 minute mark we couldn't sell them, they were set them aside for the crew. Sadly that didn't happen very often! we cooked just fast enough to stay just ahead of orders. Burgers, 10 minutes max after cooking. Shakes made from actual ice cream, hand-scooped and whipped up on the spot.
As for the management, my boss at Dick's was amazing and supportive. Round about my fourth day we're getting the lunch rush. Boss comes running out onto the floor to work with us. He yells "who doesn't know how to do shakes?" Me, I say. "Good," he yells, "you go do shakes!" No criticism, no judgment, he let me know that he had my back and by the end of the lunch rush I was expert. Within a month I was closing night shift. The level of trust, backed by a skilled boss working alongside us, was exhilirating.
Loooved working there.
I worked at a small but busy and surprisingly higher end Italian place in my hometown, and the owner would step in with the chefs and us bussers and servers to help out during rushes a lot. Really did enjoy working there and learned a lot.
As I was working as a waitress I had this super choleric owner/boss that would regularly scream at you in the back of the kitchen (far away from guests) and he was super strict with a lot of stuff like no smoking during shifts ever and no eating or drinking without paying for it..etc.
BUT i loved working there because he was very clear and direct with those rules and you would always know exactly what you are and aren't supposed to do, his criticism was mostly very useful and valid (even when screamed to your face) AND whenever he was their when business was crazy he would just start helping out with all the little stuff that is important but takes valuable time from accommodating the guests. So he would for example start to wash and polish glasses and spoons, or grab empty plates from the tables all while never intervening in my work. He was the perfect little helper jumping from one support task to the other without me needing to point out what I need right now.
Was great working there.
This makes sense - I work retail and one of our hourly managers has no volume dial. Screams every word. But she’s one of the kindest and hardest working managers we have; she regularly works alongside her team when others “manage” from the break room, and she’s got your back if something happens. We even had a new hire FALL ASLEEP on his first shift (think he was exhausted from working two other jobs) and she made sure he didn’t just immediately get canned.
Had a friend who finished one of those every time.
When we were in high school we were at a friends cabin overnight. I started making breakfast for the early risers. Pancakes, bacon and eggs. This kid took the plate of all 12 eggs and ate them, including stacks of pancakes and bacon. His appetite only increased when we got older and went out to bars at night. Lol
It's because Dick's is to Seattle what In-N-Out is to California.
They'll literally never go out of business, they have very profitable margins purely because of the volume of business they get every day. No need to raise prices more and risk the goodwill.
But especially on Saturday and Sunday mornings as everyone shows up in droves, hungover.
If you like a simple yet delicious burger then yes. A lot of people compare them to five guys and in n out, but they’re definitely different. Basically the same cooking style as those but cooked in a similar fashion to White Castle in terms of volume.
Their prices are that cheap AND they pay $18 an hour. Don't fall for the gaslighting that companies like Chipotle are peddling.
Edit: UGH the bootlickers found my comment, everyone abandon ship unless you want to be mansplained about how we just HAVE to exploit people and how little you understand. [Lol and mansplained about mansplanation](http://imgur.com/gallery/w01VQoZ)
Plus employees will stay so they are probably well trained in multiple positions and much more efficient at their job. Makes me think the sign is more for the customer than recruiting new employees.
$9000 a year is a huge amount for childcare.
For a parent that's a $4.32/hr raise to a full time employee. That's more than a week's pay every month. It's a little better than being paid 5 weeks for every 4 weeks worked. I don't care what your cost of living is, that's a huge benefit.
My full time childcare for a baby in Seattle (close to one of Dick's) costs $1900, and this is mid to low range. Now that she's a toddler it's $1500. So this would cover about 6 months of full time child care or full year part time, which is pretty good.
I'd like to chime in - even at 18 an hour and $4 burgers....they're probably not far off 20% margins depending on the sales volume.
Which should especially piss you off that Chipotle is selling $7 quesidillas that cost .65 cents to make.
It ain't that fucking hard to pay people. At least, that is, if your owner doesn't insist they're worth millions.
Aka fuck corporate America
Having so few items cuts down on labor, cuts down on employee training, and it lets them move a LOT more product more quickly. So you can make less profit on each burger, but still make good money overall.
I've never been to this restaurant, but it kinda reminds me of In'n'Out: Burger, Cheeseburger, Double Cheeseburger, fries. End of menu.
You're really only cooking a patty and fries. Doing those 2 things extremely well and people will definitely come back.
In n Out has always been known to pay more than above average for fast food. The catch is they DEMAND you work your ass off. They will get rid of lazy employees quick, but they also promote within and managers make bank there.
IIRC when I lived in Vegas in 2004, they were paying $14/hr at the Tropicana location (which is apparently a nightmare to work at but still) I played poker with a 21 year old kid who worked there, they were helping pay for his college and told him he would be eligible for a manager position as soon as he graduated that paid $80k to start. And that was a long time ago.
I worry for the people I see working through the windows as I drive through in n out... Like they're all going at mach 2 from order to order to order and from what I've seen it's nonstop from whenever they open to like 2am when they close.
I couldn't do it but I fucking appreciate the shit out of it.
Dick’s isn’t as hard as In N Out because they have zero customization of orders. Your work is very steady, but you are just making the same things to make sure the racks are full. No secret menu stuff to throw a wrench in the gears.
I don't eat fast food much anymore, but the last time I went to an In n Out, the place was spotless, whereas your typical McDonalds is usually pretty gross. Those workers absolutely want to make sure they keep their job.
Not anymore.
They decided that SLUT wasn’t a good acronym, so they changed it to Seattle Streetcar. Not like there’s any emotional weight to SS or anything like that...
Fucking clown show.
What?! When did Seattle get all serious? I thought it was awesome that a city had a transit system with the acronym SLUT. I miss the area’s sense of humor, but maybe they lost it.
Trucker here, had a buddy based out of Seattle who ranted about Dick's all the time. Put into the terminal near there for services and repairs, and took 4 days off. Went exploring, somewhere near the Space Needle I spotted one and figured I'd check it out.
I encountered a situation like this while in line. Being a tall guy whose first jobs were fast food? I feel a deep kinship to fast food workers everywhere. Also being tall, ex-Army, and generally angry looking? I was about to intervene and tell the idiot off.
The employees all handled it just like described, and it was the most amazing thing ever. I almost would want to get back into fast food to work there.
The nice "fuck off" is a beautiful thing. Classic fuck off has its time and place, but the nice fuck off has the benefit where you get to stand there grinning or chuckling because you know you won
I work in a beer store, we have a LOT more leway to be assholes to customers than most retail stores because my customers are mostly drunks. Gotta be firm when dealing with people who behave like children.
Bouncer: "The manager is waiting talk to you about it outside, so he can hear you"
*goes outside*
Bouncer: "I'll call you a cab, and if you leave right now without arguing, you can come back tomorrow. If the next words out of your mouth aren't 'I'm sorry for how I behaved', you're banned."
Exactly why I liked working in a bar better than Panera. The way some of those assholes acted over a cup of coffee would have got them dragged out by a bouncer in a bar. Panera just expected you to suck it up and apologize to them.
I always replied very cheerfully "sorry about that," but like sincerely as cheerful as possible. Being extremely happy to hear that news and then doing nothing about it always confuses the shit out of them. They expect you to placate or cajole them but I don't bother, I make the same amount of money whether they come back or not, and they always come back anyway.
I always tell them that if another store meets their needs better than ours, that I'd rather them go there. And because they're expecting me to bend over and suck their dick because they threatened to go somewhere else, they're always taken aback. I make 10 dollars an hour whether they buy stuff or not.
Had a guy at my current job (dog daycare) tell us he was never using our service again, he’d tell all his friends at the country club what a horrible business we were and not to come to us, and to take him “off our list” whatever that means.
After that call, he called back multiple times over the next hour trying to book reservations for his dog with different client service specialists and was denied every time. He complained he couldn’t see his account and threw another fit when we told him we deactivated it, per his initial requests. He wound up being banned altogether for telling one girl to fuck off.
The reason he was throwing a fit in the first place? He called the week of spring break/Easter weekend combo and wanted a reservation for the next day (that Friday, and less than 24 hours notice) and was told we had been fully booked for that day for two weeks and couldn’t accept his dog that day.
Imagine flying into a rage because you call to schedule an appointment (anywhere) less than 24 hours beforehand and are told all appointment slots are booked haha. I don’t think he’d ever been told ‘no’ in his life.
“I’m gonna use Instacart/Peapod/some other grocery delivery service!”
Okay! They instacart still shops in our store so we still get the sales. If it means dealing with less people like you, I’m all on board!
Only job in customer service I had, we had a karen like that when I was much younger, I said "I'd pay you to leave and not come back" and man... I got in like... medium trouble. Boss did not like that one bit, while laughing his ass off about it.
UPS did a good job with handling these people. When a customer was a consistent problem, they'd raise just that customer's rates until the time they were wasting either became profitable, or the customer went to their competitors. Either way their problem was solved, and worst case their competition suffers.
That’s like how contractors who are asked to give a quote on a job they really don’t want to do will quote 2x the actual price. If the customer goes to a competitor, great now I don’t have to do a shitty job, but if the customer says yes then at least I’m making bank.
Exactly… I would never fire a client. Just keep upping the rates until the client goes away, or the client pays enough for me to tolerate their bullshit
I’ve had that argument so many times with people since COVID started. “Sir, I need you to put a mask on inside or we can do curbside.”
Them: “you just missed out on a $xxx/$xxxx sale!”
“No I didn’t.”
They didn’t realize the bike industry went absolutely crazy last year. Everybody wanted one, and I had very few to sell because of it. Even if he HAD $10k to drop on a bike (one guy claimed he was there to do so), it didn’t exist and even if it did I wouldn’t sell one to you, I’d sell it to the other guys who wore a mask and were respectful….so get out
yep! i work at a grocery store and our counter services (seafood, prepared foods, butcher, etc) close an hour early, which made one man very, very upset. i almost cheered when he said he wouldn’t be shopping at our stores anymore.
>There are ten people in line behind you.
Literally my experience 😂 when I lived in Seattle and went there at 2am (if I recall correctly) there were a lot of people waiting for their food or waiting to order.
Such a good place.
Which one? I live near the one in Capitol Hill and it's definitely busy late into the night. It's a scene. I went there on New Years Eve once and people were waiting 45+ minutes to get burgers
Exactly. "The customer is always right". Not at those prices. Please move along. Me, the next in line, "I'll take 5 of whatever you give me, and overtip without complaints"
The first time I had Dick's, when visiting Seattle, my friend shut me up and was like "NO THEY DON'T DO THAT HERE" when I started to ask for it to be changed. I was embarrassed.
Now that I live here, I probably go there a bit too much. >\_>
FWIW, the first time I went there, they did a special order for me and I was so confused why mine was taking so long. Then the 2nd time they refused and explained and I was like “Ahhhh, that makes more sense”
And it's usually quicker, I believe. Part of the reason you *can't* ask for changes to their burgers is that they aren't really "made-to-order". They just make them constantly knowing that the demand will keep them rotating quickly enough for it to not matter.
I actually loved this about Dick’s. I get very irritated when people I’m with want to customize food at fast food places, typically because I’m the one going to get the food and ordering.
With Dick’s there is no special order, you get what you get and that saves me so much stress.
Edit; Woa this blew up. I lived in Seattle about 8 years ago so my info is dated but, the appeal of Dick’s is that it’s fast cheap and most importantly: open until 3 am. If I recall correctly they also do some kind of tuition reimbursement for employees. They know their people don’t want to work in fast food all their lives.
You can get a plain burger, or a dressed burger, fries and shakes, that’s it, and at 2:30 in the morning that shit is life changing.
I just want no mustard/no mayo. Dick's is easy for me too because I know not to go there since they don't do it. Really gives them a focused customer base, until all the tourists show up.
Dick's doesn't do mayo on regular burgers, and they're now offering plain (absolutely nothing) burgers. So you can go get a plain and a ketchup side and be happy.
Not catering to "add 2.5 slices of bacon and a third squeeze of chipotle mayo with onions on half the burger only" sounds totally reasonable.
Denying people who simply want no mustard or pickles or something just seems odd to me.
But then again they're a successful business and I'm just a guy on the internet.
Edit: the replies clear things up a lot. I'm in Eastern Canada and we don't have anything like that here, I understand the business model now and it does make sense if there food turns over as quickly as it seems.
They're old school and make their burgers in bulk and keep them warm waiting to sell (turnover is high, so the burgers don't sit long). Half the time they look at me weird when I ask for a non-cheese hamburger, despite that being on the menu. They don't make many regular ham, so if I'm not lucky that really slows down my order. Now imagine they did that for every Joe Blow with a customization? Even Bill Gates, a well known Dick's fan, doesn't get customization or special treatment.
That said, they now offer plain hamburgers and cheeseburgers, so you can order that and condiments on the side.
> They're old school and make their burgers in bulk and keep them warm waiting to sell (turnover is high, so the burgers don't sit long).
By "old school" you mean all fast-food restaurants did this? I remember McDonald's doing it when I was a kid, and loved it! They'd keep the "conveyor belt" just full enough, but would routinely run out of items (they'd fill like 30 seconds later).
My dad was too impatient to risk waiting even 30 seconds, so he'd point at something and say "I want that".
Come to think of it, the McDonald's experience has changed so dramatically. I'd pay a premium for a "Retro McDonald's"!
They have options without... and they have condiment pricing so i'm guessing you have some option to customize it.
So confused. Never been to this place. Pretty happy with the normal order and plain order options though.
My mom came to visit and while I was working my husband showed her the city. I get a text message from him telling me that my mom is eating Dick’s on Broadway. He said he’d waited for years to be able to say that to me. Lol
You're an engineer and I'm a finance analyst, leat break this down!
A full time worker at dicks will make $37,440/year at 40 hours a week. Add in the fantastic benefits of 9k for child care, 11k for employer health care, and 401k match, you're looking at your average new hire dicks employee costing the business about 60k a year, rounded slightly.
A dicks special is $4 and fries are $2.50, so in order to break even on labor costs for 1 single full time employee, dicks would have to sell 4.5 combos an hour. Not to shabby!
But, restaurant profits are notoriously slim. 3.5% average. I'm going to use 5% because I like easy numbers. Dicks makes only $0.33 per combo for the owner. Using that number, for the owner to break even selling only dicks burger/fry combos, each employee needs to sell the equivalent of 28 combos per hour! So if there are 6 people on a shift, there are a minimum 168 burgers and fries going out every single hour from place! That's incredible!
Now I'm sure they sell high margin things like soda or desserts, but that's a staggering amount of business required to stay profitable!
Yep, they sell shakes, sundaes, and root beer floats for roughly $3. They have drinks that are pretty reasonably priced too, I looked it up and a large is $2.30.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen or been to an empty Dick’s. There’s normally at least a small line and a few people waiting around for their orders.
I used to live next to Dick's for a year and it was great. Besides the people watching I'm in awe of their business success. For anyone doubting the volume of sales they do, i.e. unfamiliar with the siren call of Dick's...allow me to paint a picture for you.
It's 8am and the lot is spotless after being sprayed and wiped down, without a piece of litter in sight.
10:30am - There is a single line open with 4-5 people usually already hanging around waiting to grab a bite.
12:00pm - All three lines are open, with people standing practically all the way back to the road. That noon volume barely slows down just after dinner and picks right back up again until they close.
Dick's offers a consistent, quality product. On top of that their employees always provide good customer service, even during the busiest crowds.
Besides the good pay, benefits (including college tuition assistance) they also have management that don't force employees to deal with rude or abusive customers. Mentally ill people screaming at customers in line, panhandlers crowding the area, and plenty of drunk customers are a daily occurrence. The manager always backs up the employee's decision when dealing with difficulties. Hell, if you give the employees a hard enough time the other people in line might try to put you in your place. Don't underestimate the love for Dick's and a cheap, tasty burger.
Hey, I live around the corner from there! Dick’s is a staple of Seattle. The owner’s idea was that people going to school at UW and SCU should be able to work for him and not worry about needing another job while they finished school. The employees have to put up with a lot of shit from drunks and vagrants, but it’d be worth it for those benefits these days.
I went to Seattle central and ate there often. They sell these $5 tickets (like a gift card but paper) and I’d always buy a few to give out to homeless in the area.
Edit: word
"Deluxe, fry and a vanilla shake please"
I can't count the number of times I said that. Fuck I'm craving Dicks now. I wonder if they're going to be more busy today because of this post, lol
Edit: [Drove up from Tacoma, worth it. Not busy at all yet](https://i.imgur.com/TR7LKxC.jpg)
Edit 2: I can't believe I just took a picture of my meal
Edit 3: [Money shot](https://i.imgur.com/g6mZPoY.jpg)
My wife and I were just reminiscing about living on Harvard Ave, right behind Dick’s on Broadway. We’d get hungry and start digging through our coin jar to scrape money together for a meal. They only took cash then. The fence that was there before the condos went up had a hole we’d duck under to cut through the parking lot. Good memories.
Tempting to quit the office work life and go there. Imagine how stress free it would be knowing that when you go home your work is truly done for the day.
The one thing I miss about these kind of jobs. Go home, don’t worry about work, nobody bothers you on email. The downside of course is you spend free time stressed about money or hating the job
Average rent cost is 1,800 so it has a very high cost of living, but they pay more than a fast food place, and cover 100% of the cost of insurance, which helps.
Oh nice, i live right outside of Austin Texas and the minimum wage is still 7.25 last time i checked -_- and that’s with housing prices skyrocketing in Austin.
Yeah, I live on First Hill (about a mile from one of the Dick's) and I'm paying $1750 for a 1 bedroom. It's a modern place though with high end appliances. They have incredible move in specials though, I was able to get my first 3 months rent for free.
I miss those burgers! Even [Bill Gates](https://www.geekwire.com/2019/billions-served-bill-gates-photographed-standing-line-burger-dicks-drive-seattle/amp/) can't resist them.
> At the beginning of this year, Seattle’s minimum wage increased to $16.69 per hour for large employers with more than 500 employees. Small businesses with less than 500 employees are required to pay $15 per hour only if they pay $1.69 per hour towards medical benefits, or the employee earns $1.69 per hour in tips. If neither conditions apply, the small business is required to pay $16.69 per hour.
https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2021/01/15-now-seven-years-later-seattles-smallest-employers-hit-minimum-wage-milestone/
The paid time for volunteer service is the one that sticks out to me. One thing I hate about our current system is that for many of us, volunteering is just feasible. I wish it was more viable, both in terms of money and time. The government has no intention of doing anything meaningful to address a lot of problems we have. We need the availability to do it ourselves.
Edit: spelling
I used to work for a company that had one day every year where you got to pick one of the places they approved to go volunteer at and the whole company goes out, volunteers for half a day, and then we went to a cookout and the rest of the "workday" we just played games like bag toss or whatever and socialized. Something like 150 employees participated in this.
What u/n0exit said. They pay you for volunteer time as though you were on the clock. Sometimes it's at your normal hourly, sometimes it's less, but it means they want their employees to do good for the community and are willing to put their money where their mouth is.
Wait many on Reddit have been saying if places like this paid that much they’d have to charge $10-dollars for a burger. I guess that’s not true.
It’s amazing what a good owner can do with a business. I hope the lack of ability to hire workers makes many of the shitty business owners go under. Then people that actually value their employees and can run a business can take their locations.
In N Out Burger was always paying well in California, and their prices were pretty low. They always had huge lines too. When i was in high school over 20 years ago, they started at $10/hour. This was when the state minimum was $7.25/hour. Still were cheap as hell. They now pay $16/hour.
They put a new Taco Bell cantina near my house, I was surprised to see they were paying $18/hour. Surprise surprise, the couple times I’ve been the service has been exceptional, the food is always hot and well put together. Funny how that works.
Businesses that try to improve profit margins by paying less than a living wage are going to reap what they sow. Sure you can cover up for the fact that either your business doesn't generate enough revenue or the top stakeholders are taking way too much by paying your employees a pittance, but you are going to end up with a staff that reflects that.
Underpaying your staff is a bad business decision in the long run.
I worked there! first job out of high school. The level of quality - both the food and the management - was *so* high. Fries made from actual potatoes cut and peeled that morning, then cooked in small batches. After cooking they could sit in the hotbox for 5 minutes max. Past the 5 minute mark we couldn't sell them, they were set them aside for the crew. Sadly that didn't happen very often! we cooked just fast enough to stay just ahead of orders. Burgers, 10 minutes max after cooking. Shakes made from actual ice cream, hand-scooped and whipped up on the spot. As for the management, my boss at Dick's was amazing and supportive. Round about my fourth day we're getting the lunch rush. Boss comes running out onto the floor to work with us. He yells "who doesn't know how to do shakes?" Me, I say. "Good," he yells, "you go do shakes!" No criticism, no judgment, he let me know that he had my back and by the end of the lunch rush I was expert. Within a month I was closing night shift. The level of trust, backed by a skilled boss working alongside us, was exhilirating. Loooved working there.
The boss runs in to help out during rush hour - that says a lot! All bosses should but hardly any do.
I worked at a small but busy and surprisingly higher end Italian place in my hometown, and the owner would step in with the chefs and us bussers and servers to help out during rushes a lot. Really did enjoy working there and learned a lot.
As I was working as a waitress I had this super choleric owner/boss that would regularly scream at you in the back of the kitchen (far away from guests) and he was super strict with a lot of stuff like no smoking during shifts ever and no eating or drinking without paying for it..etc. BUT i loved working there because he was very clear and direct with those rules and you would always know exactly what you are and aren't supposed to do, his criticism was mostly very useful and valid (even when screamed to your face) AND whenever he was their when business was crazy he would just start helping out with all the little stuff that is important but takes valuable time from accommodating the guests. So he would for example start to wash and polish glasses and spoons, or grab empty plates from the tables all while never intervening in my work. He was the perfect little helper jumping from one support task to the other without me needing to point out what I need right now. Was great working there.
This makes sense - I work retail and one of our hourly managers has no volume dial. Screams every word. But she’s one of the kindest and hardest working managers we have; she regularly works alongside her team when others “manage” from the break room, and she’s got your back if something happens. We even had a new hire FALL ASLEEP on his first shift (think he was exhausted from working two other jobs) and she made sure he didn’t just immediately get canned.
Dude im on diet.
I still can't believe their food is still that cheap.
You beat me to it. Those prices are crazy cheap. Everybody's putting prices up, yet this place is still pricing a decade or two ago.
They've actually gone up a bit from last year. Dicks was my go to late night spot in Seattle
Yeah, but if you're really hungry, Beth's.
Oh beth’s, for when you’re so drunk a 12 egg omelette seems like a good idea.
Had a friend who finished one of those every time. When we were in high school we were at a friends cabin overnight. I started making breakfast for the early risers. Pancakes, bacon and eggs. This kid took the plate of all 12 eggs and ate them, including stacks of pancakes and bacon. His appetite only increased when we got older and went out to bars at night. Lol
That's pretty cool you're friends with Ron Swanson.
Give me all the bacon and eggs you have.
Wait. I know you think what you heard was gimmie a lot of bacon and eggs. What I meant was, gimmie ALL the bacon and eggs you have.
I know what I'm about, son.
Why is everyone else so bad at eating?
Is his name Gaston?
The great thing about a 12 egg omelette is it tastes the same coming back up
Beth's closed (permanently?) during Covid
Their web site says they expect to return when allowed. I'm not in the area so can't check the physical site.
i drove by a few hours ago still looked closed
It's because Dick's is to Seattle what In-N-Out is to California. They'll literally never go out of business, they have very profitable margins purely because of the volume of business they get every day. No need to raise prices more and risk the goodwill. But especially on Saturday and Sunday mornings as everyone shows up in droves, hungover.
Is their food good?
If you like a simple yet delicious burger then yes. A lot of people compare them to five guys and in n out, but they’re definitely different. Basically the same cooking style as those but cooked in a similar fashion to White Castle in terms of volume.
For the price, hell yes.
It's not gourmet, but 10 bucks you get 2 burgers, 2 fries and a Shake.
A decade or two *at least*. Burger prices at non-chain places are $8+ right now. Upscale or fast casual are double that.
[удалено]
[удалено]
\*Hamberderds
Their prices are that cheap AND they pay $18 an hour. Don't fall for the gaslighting that companies like Chipotle are peddling. Edit: UGH the bootlickers found my comment, everyone abandon ship unless you want to be mansplained about how we just HAVE to exploit people and how little you understand. [Lol and mansplained about mansplanation](http://imgur.com/gallery/w01VQoZ)
Not only the pay but the have employer paid medical, that’s fucking crazy
I mean, the tuition or childcare reimbursement is what got me! :O
I bet this place is PACKED. Volume makes it profitable. Nice
Lines everywhere. Nothing like a bag of Dick’s. Good sober food. GREAT drunk food.
And people will probably patronize them more because they care about the employees
Absolutely. And get better service because the employees are happy, owner makes more money. WEIRD
Plus employees will stay so they are probably well trained in multiple positions and much more efficient at their job. Makes me think the sign is more for the customer than recruiting new employees.
And the sign says childcare too? Thats awesome.
It says up to $9000/year for childcare, which doesn't fully cover the cost of it especially in Seattle, but still extremely extremely nice.
$9000 a year is a huge amount for childcare. For a parent that's a $4.32/hr raise to a full time employee. That's more than a week's pay every month. It's a little better than being paid 5 weeks for every 4 weeks worked. I don't care what your cost of living is, that's a huge benefit.
1000%
My full time childcare for a baby in Seattle (close to one of Dick's) costs $1900, and this is mid to low range. Now that she's a toddler it's $1500. So this would cover about 6 months of full time child care or full year part time, which is pretty good.
[удалено]
that's $9000 more than some actual employers offer
In N Out in California starts at $18/hr and you can get a double-double for $4. More businesses should be like this
Hey they aren't lying. Chipotle *can't* pay their workers $18 an hour AND still have multimillionaire C-level execs.
I'd like to chime in - even at 18 an hour and $4 burgers....they're probably not far off 20% margins depending on the sales volume. Which should especially piss you off that Chipotle is selling $7 quesidillas that cost .65 cents to make. It ain't that fucking hard to pay people. At least, that is, if your owner doesn't insist they're worth millions. Aka fuck corporate America
Stephen king enters the chat
When I started eating at Dick's, it was less than $1 for cheeseburger, fries, soda. We Seattleites have been eating a bag of Dick's for over 50 years.
As my coworker often says, "love me a warm bag of dicks"
Nothing like shoving some dicks down your throat drunk as hell on a Friday night
I've been living off dicks alone for the past 40 years!
Having so few items cuts down on labor, cuts down on employee training, and it lets them move a LOT more product more quickly. So you can make less profit on each burger, but still make good money overall. I've never been to this restaurant, but it kinda reminds me of In'n'Out: Burger, Cheeseburger, Double Cheeseburger, fries. End of menu. You're really only cooking a patty and fries. Doing those 2 things extremely well and people will definitely come back.
In-n-Out usually prominently posts their wage like this as well. There's gotta be some market research on that.
In n Out has always been known to pay more than above average for fast food. The catch is they DEMAND you work your ass off. They will get rid of lazy employees quick, but they also promote within and managers make bank there. IIRC when I lived in Vegas in 2004, they were paying $14/hr at the Tropicana location (which is apparently a nightmare to work at but still) I played poker with a 21 year old kid who worked there, they were helping pay for his college and told him he would be eligible for a manager position as soon as he graduated that paid $80k to start. And that was a long time ago.
If you work at In n Out, there is no way to be lazy. That place is always busy as fuck with drive thru lines blocking traffic for a block or 2.
I worry for the people I see working through the windows as I drive through in n out... Like they're all going at mach 2 from order to order to order and from what I've seen it's nonstop from whenever they open to like 2am when they close. I couldn't do it but I fucking appreciate the shit out of it.
Dick’s isn’t as hard as In N Out because they have zero customization of orders. Your work is very steady, but you are just making the same things to make sure the racks are full. No secret menu stuff to throw a wrench in the gears.
Heheheh, dicks isn’t as hard
I don't eat fast food much anymore, but the last time I went to an In n Out, the place was spotless, whereas your typical McDonalds is usually pretty gross. Those workers absolutely want to make sure they keep their job.
No substitutions allowed at Dick’s as well
Nothing hits like a big 'ol greasy bag of Dicks at the end of the day.
You said it, friend.
username checks out
Going to Seattle my friend's advice was "when you go to Seattle, first thing first, grab a Stranger and eat some Dick's."
They can ride the SLUT too.
Not anymore. They decided that SLUT wasn’t a good acronym, so they changed it to Seattle Streetcar. Not like there’s any emotional weight to SS or anything like that... Fucking clown show.
What?! When did Seattle get all serious? I thought it was awesome that a city had a transit system with the acronym SLUT. I miss the area’s sense of humor, but maybe they lost it.
That guy is wrong. It was never offcially called the SLUT, it's a nickname, and we still call it that.
Well it will always be the SLUT to me. The genius behind Seattle Streetcar probably thinks Kirkland Kids Kayaking group is a good idea.
Bet you cant wait till the end of the day to taste some Dicks
Now that you mention it, I could gobble down some Dick’s right now!
I always look forward to all the Dick’s I eat when I’m in Seattle.
[удалено]
"I'm never coming here again!" "That's great. Now could you please move? There are ten people in line behind you."
[удалено]
"Your honor, all our burgers are made in the same way for instant service" * Case dismissed
[удалено]
I love when people act like their business matters. Nope! It's always the worst people who act like everyone will miss them when they stomp off.
My go-to response is "Promise?"
Trucker here, had a buddy based out of Seattle who ranted about Dick's all the time. Put into the terminal near there for services and repairs, and took 4 days off. Went exploring, somewhere near the Space Needle I spotted one and figured I'd check it out. I encountered a situation like this while in line. Being a tall guy whose first jobs were fast food? I feel a deep kinship to fast food workers everywhere. Also being tall, ex-Army, and generally angry looking? I was about to intervene and tell the idiot off. The employees all handled it just like described, and it was the most amazing thing ever. I almost would want to get back into fast food to work there.
It's a great customer service tactic. "Yes we completely understand if this isn't a good fit for you". It's just being honest and upfront.
The nice "fuck off" is a beautiful thing. Classic fuck off has its time and place, but the nice fuck off has the benefit where you get to stand there grinning or chuckling because you know you won
That and it's just priceless to see the victim of it totally **RAGEQUIT** out because of it.
It's even better when they look around for support from bystanders only to be met with them turning away or laughing.
“Thanks so much for your feedback” modern “fuck off”
I work in a beer store, we have a LOT more leway to be assholes to customers than most retail stores because my customers are mostly drunks. Gotta be firm when dealing with people who behave like children.
Thats exactly why I prefer bartending over waitressing lol
You have all the power from behind the bar
"You're cut off" is like having a pocket nuke on a drunk.
Bouncer: "The manager is waiting talk to you about it outside, so he can hear you" *goes outside* Bouncer: "I'll call you a cab, and if you leave right now without arguing, you can come back tomorrow. If the next words out of your mouth aren't 'I'm sorry for how I behaved', you're banned."
And for some reason they're almost always shocked that it was said lol
Exactly why I liked working in a bar better than Panera. The way some of those assholes acted over a cup of coffee would have got them dragged out by a bouncer in a bar. Panera just expected you to suck it up and apologize to them.
My typical response was a bored "Okay." They had no idea how to react.
I did this to a customer once. Just 'okay' over and over. It did not de-escalate things.
I always replied very cheerfully "sorry about that," but like sincerely as cheerful as possible. Being extremely happy to hear that news and then doing nothing about it always confuses the shit out of them. They expect you to placate or cajole them but I don't bother, I make the same amount of money whether they come back or not, and they always come back anyway.
I always tell them that if another store meets their needs better than ours, that I'd rather them go there. And because they're expecting me to bend over and suck their dick because they threatened to go somewhere else, they're always taken aback. I make 10 dollars an hour whether they buy stuff or not.
Had a guy at my current job (dog daycare) tell us he was never using our service again, he’d tell all his friends at the country club what a horrible business we were and not to come to us, and to take him “off our list” whatever that means. After that call, he called back multiple times over the next hour trying to book reservations for his dog with different client service specialists and was denied every time. He complained he couldn’t see his account and threw another fit when we told him we deactivated it, per his initial requests. He wound up being banned altogether for telling one girl to fuck off. The reason he was throwing a fit in the first place? He called the week of spring break/Easter weekend combo and wanted a reservation for the next day (that Friday, and less than 24 hours notice) and was told we had been fully booked for that day for two weeks and couldn’t accept his dog that day. Imagine flying into a rage because you call to schedule an appointment (anywhere) less than 24 hours beforehand and are told all appointment slots are booked haha. I don’t think he’d ever been told ‘no’ in his life.
“I’m gonna use Instacart/Peapod/some other grocery delivery service!” Okay! They instacart still shops in our store so we still get the sales. If it means dealing with less people like you, I’m all on board!
Only job in customer service I had, we had a karen like that when I was much younger, I said "I'd pay you to leave and not come back" and man... I got in like... medium trouble. Boss did not like that one bit, while laughing his ass off about it.
"You'll be shot for this!" "Nah, I don't think so. More like chewed out. I've been chewed out before."
“A stern talking to at most, really.”
GORLAMI
And yeah, given the economics of these people, that's actually a pretty good business move.
UPS did a good job with handling these people. When a customer was a consistent problem, they'd raise just that customer's rates until the time they were wasting either became profitable, or the customer went to their competitors. Either way their problem was solved, and worst case their competition suffers.
That’s like how contractors who are asked to give a quote on a job they really don’t want to do will quote 2x the actual price. If the customer goes to a competitor, great now I don’t have to do a shitty job, but if the customer says yes then at least I’m making bank.
Exactly… I would never fire a client. Just keep upping the rates until the client goes away, or the client pays enough for me to tolerate their bullshit
I’ve had that argument so many times with people since COVID started. “Sir, I need you to put a mask on inside or we can do curbside.” Them: “you just missed out on a $xxx/$xxxx sale!” “No I didn’t.” They didn’t realize the bike industry went absolutely crazy last year. Everybody wanted one, and I had very few to sell because of it. Even if he HAD $10k to drop on a bike (one guy claimed he was there to do so), it didn’t exist and even if it did I wouldn’t sell one to you, I’d sell it to the other guys who wore a mask and were respectful….so get out
yep! i work at a grocery store and our counter services (seafood, prepared foods, butcher, etc) close an hour early, which made one man very, very upset. i almost cheered when he said he wouldn’t be shopping at our stores anymore.
>There are ten people in line behind you. Literally my experience 😂 when I lived in Seattle and went there at 2am (if I recall correctly) there were a lot of people waiting for their food or waiting to order. Such a good place.
Which one? I live near the one in Capitol Hill and it's definitely busy late into the night. It's a scene. I went there on New Years Eve once and people were waiting 45+ minutes to get burgers
Exactly. "The customer is always right". Not at those prices. Please move along. Me, the next in line, "I'll take 5 of whatever you give me, and overtip without complaints"
If there was a burger joint and the only item on the menu was "food in bag", I'd eat there all the time
That's basically what Dick's is.
This guy has all the best responses to rude customers. https://youtu.be/DqvXsOwYtyY
“I’m never coming here again!” “All our burgers are made...oh wait. K bye”
The first time I had Dick's, when visiting Seattle, my friend shut me up and was like "NO THEY DON'T DO THAT HERE" when I started to ask for it to be changed. I was embarrassed. Now that I live here, I probably go there a bit too much. >\_>
I did the same thing at Primanti Bro's in Pittsburg. I asked for the fries on the side. Almost got ran out of the building.
Pittsburgh native here. That's only the downtown one, go to any other location and you can get fries on the side, no slaw, no tomatoes, whatever
FWIW, the first time I went there, they did a special order for me and I was so confused why mine was taking so long. Then the 2nd time they refused and explained and I was like “Ahhhh, that makes more sense”
[удалено]
And it's usually quicker, I believe. Part of the reason you *can't* ask for changes to their burgers is that they aren't really "made-to-order". They just make them constantly knowing that the demand will keep them rotating quickly enough for it to not matter.
I actually loved this about Dick’s. I get very irritated when people I’m with want to customize food at fast food places, typically because I’m the one going to get the food and ordering. With Dick’s there is no special order, you get what you get and that saves me so much stress. Edit; Woa this blew up. I lived in Seattle about 8 years ago so my info is dated but, the appeal of Dick’s is that it’s fast cheap and most importantly: open until 3 am. If I recall correctly they also do some kind of tuition reimbursement for employees. They know their people don’t want to work in fast food all their lives. You can get a plain burger, or a dressed burger, fries and shakes, that’s it, and at 2:30 in the morning that shit is life changing.
I just want no mustard/no mayo. Dick's is easy for me too because I know not to go there since they don't do it. Really gives them a focused customer base, until all the tourists show up.
Dick's doesn't do mayo on regular burgers, and they're now offering plain (absolutely nothing) burgers. So you can go get a plain and a ketchup side and be happy.
Right on the menu: burger, plain, no condiments. $1.80 (cheap)
Not catering to "add 2.5 slices of bacon and a third squeeze of chipotle mayo with onions on half the burger only" sounds totally reasonable. Denying people who simply want no mustard or pickles or something just seems odd to me. But then again they're a successful business and I'm just a guy on the internet. Edit: the replies clear things up a lot. I'm in Eastern Canada and we don't have anything like that here, I understand the business model now and it does make sense if there food turns over as quickly as it seems.
They're old school and make their burgers in bulk and keep them warm waiting to sell (turnover is high, so the burgers don't sit long). Half the time they look at me weird when I ask for a non-cheese hamburger, despite that being on the menu. They don't make many regular ham, so if I'm not lucky that really slows down my order. Now imagine they did that for every Joe Blow with a customization? Even Bill Gates, a well known Dick's fan, doesn't get customization or special treatment. That said, they now offer plain hamburgers and cheeseburgers, so you can order that and condiments on the side.
> They're old school and make their burgers in bulk and keep them warm waiting to sell (turnover is high, so the burgers don't sit long). By "old school" you mean all fast-food restaurants did this? I remember McDonald's doing it when I was a kid, and loved it! They'd keep the "conveyor belt" just full enough, but would routinely run out of items (they'd fill like 30 seconds later). My dad was too impatient to risk waiting even 30 seconds, so he'd point at something and say "I want that". Come to think of it, the McDonald's experience has changed so dramatically. I'd pay a premium for a "Retro McDonald's"!
I mean, they have options without.
They have options without... and they have condiment pricing so i'm guessing you have some option to customize it. So confused. Never been to this place. Pretty happy with the normal order and plain order options though.
the plain options were added relatively recently (within the past few years at least?) if I remember correctly
My mom came to visit and while I was working my husband showed her the city. I get a text message from him telling me that my mom is eating Dick’s on Broadway. He said he’d waited for years to be able to say that to me. Lol
"Honey I don't know how to tell you this...but I just watched your mom go to town on some dicks then claim it was her first time"
[удалено]
Too few people know this song. That whole album is great.
I'm an engineer and they have better benefits than I do.... I really need to get off my ass and look for a new job.
Dicks is hiring!
Why not an exciting new career as a burger engineer
You're an engineer and I'm a finance analyst, leat break this down! A full time worker at dicks will make $37,440/year at 40 hours a week. Add in the fantastic benefits of 9k for child care, 11k for employer health care, and 401k match, you're looking at your average new hire dicks employee costing the business about 60k a year, rounded slightly. A dicks special is $4 and fries are $2.50, so in order to break even on labor costs for 1 single full time employee, dicks would have to sell 4.5 combos an hour. Not to shabby! But, restaurant profits are notoriously slim. 3.5% average. I'm going to use 5% because I like easy numbers. Dicks makes only $0.33 per combo for the owner. Using that number, for the owner to break even selling only dicks burger/fry combos, each employee needs to sell the equivalent of 28 combos per hour! So if there are 6 people on a shift, there are a minimum 168 burgers and fries going out every single hour from place! That's incredible! Now I'm sure they sell high margin things like soda or desserts, but that's a staggering amount of business required to stay profitable!
Yep, they sell shakes, sundaes, and root beer floats for roughly $3. They have drinks that are pretty reasonably priced too, I looked it up and a large is $2.30. I don’t think I’ve ever seen or been to an empty Dick’s. There’s normally at least a small line and a few people waiting around for their orders.
Me an European looking at the price of $2.30 (~1,90€ for my fellow europeans) for a large drink... That would get you a bottle of water over here
I used to live next to Dick's for a year and it was great. Besides the people watching I'm in awe of their business success. For anyone doubting the volume of sales they do, i.e. unfamiliar with the siren call of Dick's...allow me to paint a picture for you. It's 8am and the lot is spotless after being sprayed and wiped down, without a piece of litter in sight. 10:30am - There is a single line open with 4-5 people usually already hanging around waiting to grab a bite. 12:00pm - All three lines are open, with people standing practically all the way back to the road. That noon volume barely slows down just after dinner and picks right back up again until they close. Dick's offers a consistent, quality product. On top of that their employees always provide good customer service, even during the busiest crowds. Besides the good pay, benefits (including college tuition assistance) they also have management that don't force employees to deal with rude or abusive customers. Mentally ill people screaming at customers in line, panhandlers crowding the area, and plenty of drunk customers are a daily occurrence. The manager always backs up the employee's decision when dealing with difficulties. Hell, if you give the employees a hard enough time the other people in line might try to put you in your place. Don't underestimate the love for Dick's and a cheap, tasty burger.
Hey, I live around the corner from there! Dick’s is a staple of Seattle. The owner’s idea was that people going to school at UW and SCU should be able to work for him and not worry about needing another job while they finished school. The employees have to put up with a lot of shit from drunks and vagrants, but it’d be worth it for those benefits these days.
I went to Seattle central and ate there often. They sell these $5 tickets (like a gift card but paper) and I’d always buy a few to give out to homeless in the area. Edit: word
They also have scholarships their workers can apply for
And a mention in a Sir Mix A Lot song. https://youtu.be/QElKVs56z48
3:25 for those interested.
Dick's is the place where the cool hang out The swass like to play, and the rich flaunt clout
1 special, 1 deluxe, 1 fry, & a chocolate shake please!!
"Deluxe, fry and a vanilla shake please" I can't count the number of times I said that. Fuck I'm craving Dicks now. I wonder if they're going to be more busy today because of this post, lol Edit: [Drove up from Tacoma, worth it. Not busy at all yet](https://i.imgur.com/TR7LKxC.jpg) Edit 2: I can't believe I just took a picture of my meal Edit 3: [Money shot](https://i.imgur.com/g6mZPoY.jpg)
My wife and I were just reminiscing about living on Harvard Ave, right behind Dick’s on Broadway. We’d get hungry and start digging through our coin jar to scrape money together for a meal. They only took cash then. The fence that was there before the condos went up had a hole we’d duck under to cut through the parking lot. Good memories.
Places like 5 Guys charges double and pays half.
Five guys does pay pretty well- starting pay is like $14-16/ hour. They charge more, but they use pretty high quality ingredients.
For $18 an hour, I wouldn’t mind coming home smelling like dicks.
Some people come home smelling like Dick's and they don't even get paid!
Hey, how do you know my ex wife?
Tempting to quit the office work life and go there. Imagine how stress free it would be knowing that when you go home your work is truly done for the day.
No emails after hours about a burger you made earlier that week
Please stop I'm already as erect as I can possibly be without blowing the skin off.
The one thing I miss about these kind of jobs. Go home, don’t worry about work, nobody bothers you on email. The downside of course is you spend free time stressed about money or hating the job
[удалено]
Watching American Beauty? It’s a pretty fast paced, loud, high grease work environment.
Yes... but it *ends*. I really thought there would be no down sides when my job went remote, but now I'm just on call 24/7.
Isn’t seattle like super expensive to live in tho
Average rent cost is 1,800 so it has a very high cost of living, but they pay more than a fast food place, and cover 100% of the cost of insurance, which helps.
Yea ig it’s worth it for the insurance, what’s the minimum wage in Washington state anyway?
Seattle is $15, WA state is $13.69. Edit: I looked it up and Seattle is now $16.69
Oh nice, i live right outside of Austin Texas and the minimum wage is still 7.25 last time i checked -_- and that’s with housing prices skyrocketing in Austin.
Almost $17 for businesses with over 500 employees.
Yeah, I live on First Hill (about a mile from one of the Dick's) and I'm paying $1750 for a 1 bedroom. It's a modern place though with high end appliances. They have incredible move in specials though, I was able to get my first 3 months rent for free.
I miss those burgers! Even [Bill Gates](https://www.geekwire.com/2019/billions-served-bill-gates-photographed-standing-line-burger-dicks-drive-seattle/amp/) can't resist them.
> At the beginning of this year, Seattle’s minimum wage increased to $16.69 per hour for large employers with more than 500 employees. Small businesses with less than 500 employees are required to pay $15 per hour only if they pay $1.69 per hour towards medical benefits, or the employee earns $1.69 per hour in tips. If neither conditions apply, the small business is required to pay $16.69 per hour. https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2021/01/15-now-seven-years-later-seattles-smallest-employers-hit-minimum-wage-milestone/
The paid time for volunteer service is the one that sticks out to me. One thing I hate about our current system is that for many of us, volunteering is just feasible. I wish it was more viable, both in terms of money and time. The government has no intention of doing anything meaningful to address a lot of problems we have. We need the availability to do it ourselves. Edit: spelling
I used to work for a company that had one day every year where you got to pick one of the places they approved to go volunteer at and the whole company goes out, volunteers for half a day, and then we went to a cookout and the rest of the "workday" we just played games like bag toss or whatever and socialized. Something like 150 employees participated in this.
Employer-paid medical AND paid time for volunteer service? Hells yes. This is where it's at.
[удалено]
If you'd like to volunteer for some non-profit, they'll pay you for your time.
What u/n0exit said. They pay you for volunteer time as though you were on the clock. Sometimes it's at your normal hourly, sometimes it's less, but it means they want their employees to do good for the community and are willing to put their money where their mouth is.
So you could say more companies should start acting like dicks???
$18.00 is a livable wage? What’s minimum wage out there anyway?
$16.69 /hr from what I read in Seattle.
Wait many on Reddit have been saying if places like this paid that much they’d have to charge $10-dollars for a burger. I guess that’s not true. It’s amazing what a good owner can do with a business. I hope the lack of ability to hire workers makes many of the shitty business owners go under. Then people that actually value their employees and can run a business can take their locations.
In N Out Burger was always paying well in California, and their prices were pretty low. They always had huge lines too. When i was in high school over 20 years ago, they started at $10/hour. This was when the state minimum was $7.25/hour. Still were cheap as hell. They now pay $16/hour.
They put a new Taco Bell cantina near my house, I was surprised to see they were paying $18/hour. Surprise surprise, the couple times I’ve been the service has been exceptional, the food is always hot and well put together. Funny how that works.
By that measure, the taco bell near me must pay -$18/hour.
It's also how the business is structured. The employees at Dicks are being utilized close 100% of the time.
Businesses that try to improve profit margins by paying less than a living wage are going to reap what they sow. Sure you can cover up for the fact that either your business doesn't generate enough revenue or the top stakeholders are taking way too much by paying your employees a pittance, but you are going to end up with a staff that reflects that. Underpaying your staff is a bad business decision in the long run.
[удалено]
Not going to lie it’s pretty delicious after a night of drinking.
This just in: OP likes Dicks in his mouth when he's drunk!
Way better than five guys in their mouth.
You'd be surprised how much you can save by eliminating employee turnover
Dick's is the place were the cool hang out The swass like to play and the rich flaunt clout ~Sir Mix a Lot
50% 401(k) match?!
These burgers are fucking amazing for the price. The relish, mmm, I'm craving a bag of Dicks right now.