Funny how these things happen;

B & G Milky Way franchise owner DiAnn Burwell said “I’m here from open to close, every day, making sure the stores run right. I do my own accounting, I do my own ordering, I do my scheduling,Ii do everything. If I could afford to have somebody do that for me, I would, so $8.50 an hour scared me to death.”

Dropping the minimum wage for teens under 18 a dollar, from $8.50 to $7.50 an hour, may help some small business owners like Burwell.

“DiAnn gave a big sigh, it eased the pressure off me somewhat,” Burwell said.

It seems the only thing she was worried about was her bottom line, which seems to be doing just fine two years later;

The franchisee, a Sioux Falls couple, will operate the new location along 41st Street just east of the Harmodon Park entrance, said Bruce Bettmeng, who owns B&G with his wife, Pam. The Bettmengs will own the land and building, and lease it to the franchisee. The couple isn’t ready to announce their ownership yet, Bettmeng said. The wife worked for him at the B&G on West 12th Street about a decade ago.

If there is any argument behind raising the minimum wage, it should be it’s GOOD for business. I find it hard to believe they can continue to sell this successful franchise if the franchise owners were struggling to pay employees.

By l3wis

7 thoughts on “Business owner who complained about Teen Minimum wage expands business”
  1. I remember reading that original story too. In fact I didn’t goto B & G Milky Way for a couple of years after that because I though it was so ridiculous.

    Good job calling them on their BS.

  2. The other part I laugh about is it is a seasonal business. If you are worried about how much money you are making, maybe you should work all year long?

  3. but not everyone is smart as you- a walk up business trying to sell ice cream to eskimos probably won’t make it

  4. Paying our kids less is just cruel. Lets say you have 4 kids working each hour and your business is open 12 hours a day… $48 bucks is what your saving to tell new workers their not worth 1 more dollar. If you cant figure out to cover $48 bucks a day selling sugar, your an asshole who shouldn’t employ people.

    How about you work year around rather than shi*ting on our kids for 6 and sitting on your ass for the other 6.

    Haven’t spent a nickel at your business since that interview and my kids will never work there. We spend a lot of time at Harmadon park….I’ll make sure I tell everyone you don’t pay kids the real minimum wage.

  5. I once had a relative work there. The “G” stands for “Greedy,” in my opinion. He always gave the youngest workers the most hours to keep his costs down; that was before SD raised the minimum wage for all to $ 8.50 per hour, and then kept it for all after a 2016 referendum vote, however.

    Some might call such past actions as smart business practices, or you could have called it a business dependent upon child labor…. I’ll leave that to your imaginations….

  6. LJL – As the band Nashville Pu**y sang once;

    “Sit on my Ass, smoking bad grass, tellin’ everyone I’m King.”

  7. I stood in line once to get a cone at the one by Mickey D’s on West 12th. That’s been a long time ago. When I finally got my cone, I thought to myself, “I should have just went to Mickey D’s”

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