Shake Shack shares more than double in stock market debut
Source: AP-Excite
By JOSEPH PISANI
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street went wild for burgers Friday.
Shares of Shake Shack, a burger chain that started as a New York City hot dog cart, more than doubled in their first day of trading.
The company raised $105 million in its initial public offering Thursday, selling 5 million shares at $21 per share. It had initially forecast that its shares would fetch $14 to $16 per share from investors, and raised that prediction to $17 to $19 per share on Wednesday as demand grew.
Shake Shack is known for its burgers, milkshakes and crinkle-cut fries. Its journey from a hot dog cart in Manhattan's Madison Square Park to Wall Street started in 2001. Three years later, Union Square Hospitality Group, a company owned by restaurateur Danny Meyer, opened a kiosk in the same park. Restaurants throughout New York City followed, and in 2010, it ventured out of its hometown for the first time with a Miami restaurant.
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FILE - In this May 21, 2014, file photo, pedestrians walk by a Shake Shack in New York's theater district. Hamburger chain Shake Shack Inc. has priced its initial public stock offering at $21 per share, above its proposed range of $17 to $19 per share. (AP Photo/Mark Kennedy, File)
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150130/us--shake_shack-ipo-4933cba504.html
The Burger Chain That Pays $10 An Hour With Benefits: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/03/21/3417056/shake-shack-wages-benefits/
BY BRYCE COVERT POSTED ON MARCH 21, 2014 AT 8:22 AM UPDATED: MARCH 21, 2014 AT 9:10 AM
Shake Shack, a burger chain with locations in Florida, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C. as well as international locations in the Middle East, Russia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, pays starting workers $9.50 an hour outside of New York City and $10 an hour for New Yorkers, CEO Randy Garutti told ThinkProgress. It also offers full-time employees health, dental, vision, retirement, and disability benefits plus paid time off.
But on average, workers get $10.70 an hour thanks to a program it calls Shack Bucks. Every month, it gives employees a percentage of the company’s top-line sales. “It’s sort of immediate revenue sharing, not a long-term program,” he noted.
A Shake Shack order
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The company pays about 70 percent of employees’ health care premiums and also matches contributions to their 401(k)s. He added that he is “more excited” than all of these perks about how many employees move up into manager roles. “There are a lot of people who started making $9 an hour and are now general managers in our restaurants making very good money,” he said. The owners started in fine dining and brought the compensation practices from those restaurants into its original burger and hot dog stand.
When asked if these practices have come with concrete benefits for the company itself, he responded, “Absolutely,” adding, “Our turnover is lower, we can hire the best, they stay longer, and we can grow them into management.” And it pays off for customers. “If the team feels taken care of, then they’ll go out and take care of the guests.”
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= new reply since forum marked as read
Which also pays extremely well for a burger chain and moves people into high-paying management. But not quite as good 