DALLAS — Increased off-premises sales, particularly for It’s Just Wings, helped Chili’s return to sales growth in the third quarter ended March 24. The quick-service restaurant chain, continuing to rebound from COVID-19 dining restrictions, rang up sales of $749 million in the quarter, which marked an increase of 0.3% from $748.7 million in the previous year’s third quarter.

Now, executives of Brinker International, Inc., the Dallas-based parent company of Chili’s, are considering different avenues to grow It’s Just Wings, an online-only chicken wings brand. Two possibilities are takeout and tying in with sporting events.

“It’s Just Wings continues to perform well, and we’re on track to hit that $150 million target we set at the beginning of the year,” said Wyman T. Roberts, chief executive officer and president of Brinker. “Almost all of our domestic franchise partners jumped on the opportunity, and globally, several of our partners have already picked it up. Wings is now in 9 countries and 160 locations outside the US, making it a formidable brand in just its first year.”

It’s just Wings leverages existing Chili’s and Maggiano’s kitchens and cooks to sell chicken wings. It’s Just Wings began by operating through an exclusive partnership with DoorDash. Brinker International in March announced it had integrated with Google so that consumers could order pickup for the wings on Google Search and Google Maps.

“We believe takeout holds a lot of potential for us, and now that we’ve invested in the technology and infrastructure to support it, we’re working to increase awareness levels outside the delivery channel,” Mr. Roberts said. “We’ve learned a lot this year with the launch of It’s Just Wings that will leverage when we’re ready for our next virtual brand.”

A return to a more normal college football season next fall could present opportunities for the brand, he said.

“It’s been a really great year of learning around the virtual brands, It’s Just Wings and others, around how to market them effectively, about how they play to different audiences and who the target is,” Mr. Roberts said.

Brinker International in the third quarter posted net income of $33.9 million, or 74¢ per share on the common stock, which was up 10% from $30.8 million, or 83¢ per share, in the previous year’s third quarter. Third-quarter revenues of $828.4 million were down 3.7% from $860 million. The winter storm Uri that hit in February resulted in an estimated $10.5 million in lost revenues, said Joseph G. Taylor, executive vice president and chief financial officer for Brinker.

Brinker International projects fourth-quarter revenues in a range of $950 million to $1 billion.

“With the rollout of vaccines in full swing and restrictions lifting across the country, our guests’ pent-up demand for a dine-in experience is being released as well,” Mr. Roberts said. “People are finally starting to feel safer to venture out and spend more — spend some of the money they’ve been saving over the past year.”

Through the first three quarters of the fiscal year, Brinker International posted net income of $56.6 million, or $1.25 per share on the common stock, which was down 33% from $73.6 million, or $1.97 per share, in the same time of the previous year. Total revenues over three quarters were $2.33 billion, which was down 7% from $2.52 billion.

Going forward, Brinker expects to face rising costs for labor. Inflation in labor typically is in a range of 3% to 5%, Mr. Taylor said, adding in the short run the level will be at the high end of that range.

“But we’re very comfortable,” he said. “We have all the tools in place to manage through this short term.”

Originally Appeared On: https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/18494-whats-next-for-its-just-wings

Facebook Inc. faces a formal probe by its main privacy regulator in the European Union following the leak of the personal data of more than half a billion users of the social media service.

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission on Wednesday opened an inquiry following media reports earlier this month showing “that a collated dataset” of Facebook users’ personal data “had been made available on the internet,” the authority said in a statement.

Personal information on 533 million Facebook users reemerged on a hacker website in early April. The information included phone numbers and email addresses of users, the Irish regulator said in a statement earlier this month. Facebook has said the data is old and was already reported on in 2019.

Facebook said it’s “cooperating fully” with the Irish authority and that the probe “relates to features that make it easier for people to find and connect with friends on our services.” It said the features “are common to many apps and we look forward to explaining them and the protections we have put in place.”

EU Hubs

The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, took effect in May 2018, paving the way for national authorities in the 27-nation bloc to levy fines on companies of as much as 4% of annual sales. Facebook is among a number of big U.S. tech giants that have set up an EU hub in Ireland.

According to the Irish agency’s last annual report, the regulator has 27 open privacy probes targeting companies such as Apple Inc. and Google, nine of which focus on Facebook.

The probe will determine “whether Facebook Ireland has complied with its obligations, as data controller, in connection with the processing of personal data of its users by means of the Facebook Search, Facebook Messenger Contact Importer and Instagram Contact Importer features of its service,” the regulator said in its statement said.

Originally Appeared On: https://tech.hindustantimes.com/tech/news/facebook-faces-formal-irish-privacy-probe-into-data-leak-71618426797480.html

Many family caregivers are familiar with the financial impact of trying to balance the responsibilities of their jobs and careers with their duties caring for their loved ones. But with more than 48 million caregivers across the country, those personal costs can add up to a massive toll on the nation’s economy.

New research from AARP finds that if employers and governments enacted more supports for working family caregivers age 50 and older, not only would the productivity of these workers increase, but the policies also could cause the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by as much as $1.7 trillion by 2030. That economic boost could grow to $4.1 trillion by 2050.

“Looking at the people who are taking care of somebody, many of them either have to reduce their hours [at work], they may get passed over for a promotion, or they leave the workforce entirely,” said Deb Whitman, AARP executive vice president and chief public policy officer, during a March 26 event with Forbes magazine to discuss the results of the research. “If we could stop that [from happening], our economy would grow.”

AARP’s new analysis used data from two of the organization’s research projects, its “Longevity Economy(R) outlook” survey and its “Caregiving in the U.S. 2020” report. The two surveys identified workers age 50 and older who had to leave the workforce, reduce their working hours or pass up a promotion due to caregiving responsibilities.

The new analysis then used economic projections to determine how much GDP would grow if employers and governments offered better supports for these caregivers. For example, the economy could retain 10.7 million jobs in 2030 just by providing working family caregivers age 50-plus with policies that offered them more support. And because they were earning income, these working family caregivers could then spend an additional 7 percent by 2030 on technology products, financial services and insurance, transportation services, and motor vehicles, according to AARP’s analysis.

The report also examines the disparities among older adults who are working while also serving as family caregivers. Women are the majority of family caregivers, and they often experience more adverse employment consequences than men as a result of caregiving. Older employed women are more likely than men to cut back on hours, take a leave of absence or drop out of the labor force because of caregiving responsibilities.

Silver lining of pandemic

Workplace policies that support family caregivers include options such as flexible hours, telework options, paid time off and family medical leave, affordable backup care and referrals to community resources. Many employers implemented some of these policies temporarily in 2020 as more companies shifted to working from home to deter the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

The question now is how these employers will apply their pandemic practices and experiences to their workforce once more companies are able to reopen their offices.

The telework options many workers received due to COVID-19 offered “a huge benefit for family caregivers to be available for their loved ones and have flexible work so they can take them to their appointments and other things they need,” Whitman said during the event. “I hope that [flexibility] continues and so five years from now this won’t be a blip where everybody knew that it could get done and then we forgot that it actually worked.”

“One advantage of COVID is it did shine that light on family caregiving,” Nancy LeaMond, AARP’s executive vice president and chief advocacy and engagement officer, said during the event. “Probably many people who didn’t think they were family caregivers — they might be driving their parents or their grandparents to a doctor’s appointment, or doing grocery shopping — kind of suddenly, it came into focus that indeed they were part of the 38 million” who are family caregivers.

“It’s very important that the corporate or employer culture recognizes family caregivers and knows that people may be giving their all to the mission of the organization every day, but at the same time, they have other family responsibilities,” LeaMond said.

Kenneth Terrell covers employment, age discrimination, work and jobs, careers, and Congress for AARP. He previously worked for the Education Writers Association and U.S. News & World Report, where he reported on government and politics, business, education, science and technology, and lifestyle news.

Originally Appeared On: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/caregiver/news-for-caregivers/story/2021-04-12/more-support-for-older-caregivers-could-boost-u-s-economy

All week, National Labor Relations Board officials have been counting the votes in a historic unionization election at an Amazon facility in Bessemer, Alabama. It could become the first-ever union workplace for the nation’s second-largest private employer.

In Chicago, workers demonstrated Thursday morning outside an Amazon warehouse as they put pressure on the company for accommodations to what some employees call brutal conditions.

It began on Jan. 25, when Amazon employees say they were told the company was shutting down its 150,000-square-foot distribution center in McKinley Park on the South Side, known as DCH1. It’s scheduled to close Friday, according to workers.

Amazon has been expanding fast in the Chicago area over the past year. The company says DCH1 is one of its older facilities, so it’s not renewing its lease and is instead transferring workers to three newer sites to better serve customers. Some employees say that’s not the whole story, describing the workplace as “filthy” and complaining of safety issues.

Last April, a group of workers at DCH1 now known as Amazonians United Chicagoland organized what they called safety strikes, demanding personal protective equipment, cleaning protocols and other COVID-19 safety measures.

“People were getting sick and we weren’t notified about it,” said employee Rakyle Johnson. “They would broadcast themselves on social media informing us they were sick, they had COVID. We as a group decided that something must be done.”

Rakyle Johnson (WTTW News)

Amazonians United says its efforts were largely successful. Now, their organizing has a new focus. Employees say earlier this year when they were told DCH1 was shutting down, they were also told their hours would be changed to shifts called megacycles: working 10.5 hours, from 1:20 a.m. to 11:50 a.m.

“Mothers have to be home with their children because they have e-learning, or they have to get them up in the morning, or they have to make sure that they’re down for the night,” Johnson said. “I have medical issues – I just found out three months ago that I’m a diabetic. So that’s interfering with the schedule that I have to ensure that I’m taking the medication that I need.”

Workers came up with a list of accommodations for people working megacycles. They’re seeking a $2 per hour raise; accommodations for employees who can only work part of the shift because they need to care for children or for medical reasons; ride-share trips to and from work, which they say the company provides in New York City; and full 20-minute breaks without managers cutting them short.

“Whether we need to keep on handing out petitions or we’re going to go back to the route of doing protesting or something else, we’ll take those actions that are necessary, because we’ve been put in way too many situations to not be given the privileges that we’re asking for that are given at other facilities as well,” said Amazon worker Bekim Mehmedi.

Amazon declined a request from WTTW News for an interview, but touted the pay, benefits and flexibility that employees are offered.

“We are excited to have recently launched three new, next generation delivery stations for DCH1 employees where they can continue to work and grow as an integral part of the Amazon team in state-of-art facilities. Our associates are the heart and soul of our operations, and we are happy to continue to offer great, flexible career opportunities in world class facilities,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement.

“You pride yourself on taking care of your workers or ensuring your workers safety, all we’re doing is holding you to it,” Johnson said.

Workers demonstrated Thursday, April 1, 2021 at the Amazon facility in Gage Park known as DIL3. (WTTW News)

Robert Bruno, professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois, describes Amazonians United a sort of alternative labor organization – groups he says have been effective in the restaurant and garment industries, and even Silicon Valley.

“They’re not recognized as formally a labor union under the law, but they advocate for workers and they use public advocacy campaigns. They could also use lawsuits to try to improve working conditions,” Bruno said.

Bruno says formal labor unions have the greatest legal weight behind them, and that if Amazon employees in Alabama vote to unionize it could have effects in Chicago and around the nation.

“Once a beachhead is created … it creates the opportunity to organize in other places,” Bruno said.

The workers we spoke with say they’re open to the idea of a union, but that it has to be responsive to their needs. For now, as workers from DCH1 transfer to other locations around the city, they’re focused on getting accommodations for employees working megacycles and keeping up the momentum behind their organizing.

“Unfortunately, these issues are not just in one site,” Mehmedi said. “I want everybody who wears this (employee) vest to know that it doesn’t matter if you’re by yourself or you’re with the whole shift, standing up for yourself is important.”

Amazon is also facing unfair labor practice charges at the National Labor Relations Board claiming the company intimidated employees who participated in coronavirus-related demonstrations at DCH1, and is currently in talks with the NLRB.

Originally Appeared On: https://news.wttw.com/2021/04/01/amazon-employees-chicago-demand-accommodations-brutal-shift