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How a $15 minimum wage led to a $16 BLT

Is $16 a ridiculous price to pay for a BLT sandwich? In today's crazy market, maybe not. Entrepreneur Brian Will believes it all traces back to the $15 minimum wage craze. Progressives promised that the increase would help people afford the basics of life. But in reality, it has just driven up prices, especially for small businesses. Brian Will joins Glenn to explain how this, plus the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and other economic issues have driven up the price of everything from rent to insurance. Now, he tells Glenn that his restaurants have to sell 93,000 sandwiches just to break even and he reveals the shockingly small profit that the restaurants make on every $16 BLT.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: You've gone into restaurants lately, and you've been shocked at the price of anything. Soups, sandwiches. To steak. Anything.

You can fall into, what's going on, this is a scam!

How can a BLT be 16 bucks?

We wanted to get Brian Will on. He's a serial entrepreneur, two-time Wall Street Journal best-selling author.

Leading consultant in business and sales management. He's founded seven different companies across four distinct industries. He is currently the head of a chain of restaurants.

And they are the Derby Sports Bar. Cantina Loca. The Tavern House in Central City Tavern. You might have one in your town.

He's also in his spare time a member of the city council in the town of Alpharetta, Georgia.

Hope we have time to talk about that a little bit.

But he was just on talking about the price of a BLT on Barney & Company.

And everyone on my staff, Brian, found that fascinating, on how you broke that down. How are you doing, Brian?

BRIAN: I'm good, Glenn. Thanks for having me. This is awesome.

GLENN: So can you break this down, why should we look at the price of $16 for a BLT, and say, okay. I understand it, it's reasonable.

BRIAN: Yeah. This whole conversation, Glenn, started with a friend of mine. Who sent me this text, when he was sitting with my restaurant saying, hey, Brian, I'm sitting here eating your BLT at $16. You know it's only bacon, lettuce, tomato, and bread.

And I said, you know, Dan, let me break this down for you. I want to give you some perspective.

That sandwich might cost $16, but we've got $20,000 of rent in that building.

We've got $6,000 in utility. We have $60,000 of payroll. And then we have our general office expenses, that all have to get paid for out of the gross profit margin in that sandwich.

And so we actually did a breakdown for that, if you would like to hear this little breakdown.

GLENN: I do. I do.

BRIAN: That $16 sandwich has about $5 of actual food costs. Which leaves about $11 of gross profit.

But out of that 11, two dollars of that, goes towards rent and utilities. $2.50 goes towards what we call our fixed operational expenses like the TVs and the music and the mats and the towels and all that stuff.

Labor can make that sandwich, $4.50.

Which only leaves me a profit of $2.

So a 16 dollar sandwich, I have $2 of actual net profit that I get to keep, unless or until something breaks or something goes wrong. That's my gross potential net profit.

GLENN: So how many BLTs do you have to sell to be able to keep your doors open?

BRIAN: Yeah, so I was laughing about that. If you take our $86,000 a month in general expenses, figure in a 30 percent food cost, we have to sell 93,000 sandwiches a year to get to zero.

Every restaurant has a break even point, the break even point in that restaurant is about 1.5 million a year. So if I do 1,499,000 in revenue, I lose a thousand bucks.

Everything above 1.5, we can make a profit margin on. But if you never get to the 1.5, you're just spinning your wheels.

GLENN: So what has changed?

I mean, it's not just the price of food, is it?

BRIAN: No. Food has gone up.

But our biggest increase in expenses has been labor.

If you remember, obviously, when COVID hit. Everybody is getting all these extended unemployment benefits.

When we came out of COVID. And tried to bring people back. They didn't want to go back to work.

So we went to a $15 minimum, and that's for kids coming out of high school. And this was three years ago. That's now jumped up to about 16.50. So I have people, with zero experience, 18 years old. Come to work for me, and we start them out at $33,000.

But for now, 60,000 -- our managers are now 70 to 80,000.

So if you look at my restaurant, three years ago. We were paying 500,000 for labor.

On 2.9 million of revenue. Today, we pay 650,000 for labor.

On 2.5 million of revenue. My revenue is down 350. My labor is up 150.

And that's why we have to keep driving the price of these things up.

Everyone wants to get paid. They want a big salary. They want a living wage. But all that does is drive everything up. At some point, we still have to make a profit.

GLENN: Right. This is what happened in Seattle, except they did it by choice.

When Seattle raised the minimum wage. I don't remember what it was. I think it was 15 or $16 an hour.

All the restaurants said, we can't afford this.

And a lot of them left, closed shop, and left Seattle.

Some of them stayed. And some of them just went out of business because of it.

But that's not the only cost.

You have food going up. You have labor going up. You have rent --

BRIAN: Utilities went up 40 percent.
Just our gas and electric. Right? Our insurance went up 40 percent. Everything is -- I mean, the whole supply chain from us down, everybody's cost goes up in that compound.

GLENN: Wait. Why did insurance go up 40 percent?

BRIAN: Because they can. I mean, I don't -- is that a question?

Because you have no choice, but to buy it. Because if you don't buy it, you can't stay in business.

So it goes up, you know. It's crazy how much costs have gone up.

GLENN: So how do you see us weathering this?

BRIAN: You know, business is interesting. I have a picture in my office of a guy on a tight rope. And he's got that big long bar, right? That goes on both sides.

I always say, we have to balance. Business owners are on this tightrope. You have to balance what you can charge on one end. With what the consumers are willing to pay on the other. So long as you can keep that balance. You can stay on the tightrope and stay in business.

But if you charge too much, they stop coming. You fall off.

If you don't charge enough, you get more business at a loss. You go out of business.

So there's always a balance. And in our case, we made sure we put our locations in, in what we call high traffic areas.

So we're getting organic traffic running around our restaurants. Which helps us drastically. But you look at these small operators, that are out there fighting all these costs. That don't have that organic type of traffic.

And that's why they're going under.

GLENN: I mean, you're a serial entrepreneur.

What do you hear from entrepreneurs, that are just beginning today? I mean, it's -- it's a completely different world. Can you make it?

BRIAN: It is. It's a different world in a lot of ways. And I actually do a lot of sales and management training.

And one of the other things we know. In today's environment. Is there's so much information online. That people can research almost anything before they ever walk in your door.

And they already know what your competition is charging.

They already know what they should be paying. And, so again, you're back to this balance of you either need to create something extremely unique, that will drive people in, and make them want to buy from you, or your chances of success are diminished greatly.

So I call COVID the great washout, Glenn.

All the weak operators in Houston, to be able to make it, because we were in a booming economy.

When COVID hit, it just washed out all those weak operators, and only left the ones that are strong.

Now, you've got people coming in behind us, and trying to come in and undercut. But all they will do is lose all their money, and go out of business, and hurt the rest of us.

It's an interesting time to be in business.

GLENN: But if you were a true entrepreneur, it washed out of a lot of people who were just -- you know, my dad used to have his own bakery. That is hard keeping that afloat.

You know, a one little, one-man shop in whatever you're doing.

And food is the worst at that. It wiped out a lot of people who were just working for themselves.

BRIAN: Yeah. Yeah. Just working for themselves, and only making enough money to live on. And most people got washed out, didn't have any financial security behind them, savings.

You know, they just weren't able to weather that bump, which is one of the things I teach entrepreneurs today.

Is you better have enough security behind you, that if the next COVID comes along or something weird happens, you won't get wiped out, at the drop of a hat.

We make up 150 people a day, in March of 2020. It was -- it was a horrible day.

GLENN: Wow. Your thoughts of what's coming in 2024? Any insight in --

BRIAN: Yeah. I've had this question a good bit. And I have friends in the MNA field. And I see everybody waiting to see what will happen with this election. We just don't know what will happen.

I think if Biden gets elected again. He doesn't have to worry about getting reelected.

So who knows what will happen, you know, with the people pulling the strings up there in Washington, and what they're going to do.

So I think we're at a tenuous time right now, particularly in small business. So we need to be very careful.

And we need to be keeping some powder dry, to keep us safe, just in case something else pops up.

GLENN: If Donald Trump were to be elected, he doesn't go to jail.

And the left doesn't set the country on fire. Better or worse for business?

BRIAN: If he can start taking some of these regulations away. If he can start making it easier for us to get those interest rates back down.

I mean, the other issue we have, and I love this topic. I did a video on it the other day about inflation.

Inflation will affect us forever. Right?

We had a 5 percent. We had an 8 percent.

Even if it's 3 percent, that doesn't mean prices are going down.

That just means they compound.

They're never going back down.

Maybe they won't go up as much, but they're not going back down.

People are very confused on how that works.

But if we can get the economy booming again, where people aren't afraid to spend their money. And they aren't hoarding it, trying to wait to see what will happen. Then people will go out. Have fun. And spend more money. And I think we will be okay. It just takes a little time.

GLENN: Yeah. Brian, thank you very much. I really appreciate it.

BRIAN: Glenn, I thank you for having me.

GLENN: Brian Will.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

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What was Jeffrey Epstein's operation all about. If he was at the center of a massive blackmail operation to compromise those in positions of power, who is in possession of that information now? Glenn Beck and ATF Whistleblower John Dodson analyze the details of this situation and give their thoughts on what is the most likely reality surrounding Epstein.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with ATF Whistleblower John Dodson HERE

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WARNING: How America Elects a Socialist President in 2028 | Glenn TV | Ep 444

The rise of Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old socialist who just won the Democratic primary for mayor, is not just a political earthquake shaking New York City — it’s a warning for the rest of America. Backed by Bernie Sanders, AOC, and the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani promises free everything, to tax the rich, and to dismantle capitalism. There’s nothing new about this tired strategy, but the media is propping him up as a new political genius. And with Democrat leaders lining up behind him, it’s clear: This radicalism isn’t fringe anymore. It’s the Democratic Party’s future. Mamdani’s rise is part of a larger movement that’s rewriting America’s values. Glenn Beck explains how New York is the prototype for the Left’s socialist makeover of America. Victor Davis Hanson, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Standford, gives a terrifying prediction on Mamdani’s mayoral race chances and warns the revolution is coming for mainstream Democrats. He also dives into MAGA’s frustration with the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files.

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RADIO

INSIDE Trump’s soul: How a bullet changed his heart forever

“I have a new purpose,” then-candidate Donald Trump told reporter Salena Zito after surviving the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. Salena joins Glenn Beck to reveal what Trump told her about God, his purpose in life, and why he really said, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”, as she details in her new book, “Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America's Heartland”.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Salena, congratulations on your book. It is so good.

Just started reading it. Or listening to it, last night.

And I wish you would have -- I wish you would have read it. But, you know, the lady you have reading it is really good.

I just enjoy the way you tell stories.

The writing of this is the best explanation on who Trump supporters are. That I think I've ever read, from anybody.

It's really good.

And the description of your experience there at the edge of the stage with Donald Trump is pretty remarkable as well. Welcome to the program.

SALENA: Thank you, Glenn. Thank you so much for having me.

You know, I was thinking about this, as I was ready to come on. You and I have been along for this ride forever. For what?

Since 2006? 2005?

Like 20 years, right?

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

SALENA: And I've been chronicling the American people for probably ten more years, before that. And it's really remarkable to me, as watching how this coalition has grown. Right?

And watching how people have the -- have become more aspirational.

And that's -- and that is what the conservative populist coalition is, right?

It is the aspirations of many, but the celebration of the individual.

And chronicling them, yeah. Has been -- has been, a great honor.

GLENN: You know, I was thinking about this yesterday, when -- when Elon Musk said he was starting another party.

And somebody asked me, well, isn't he doing what the Tea Party tried to do?

No. The Tea Party was not going to start a new party.

It was to -- you know, it was to coerce and convince the Republican Party to do the right thing. And it worked in many ways. It didn't accomplish what we hoped.

But it did accomplish a lot of things.

Donald Trump is a result of the Tea Party.

I truly believe that. And a lot of the people that were -- right?

Were with Donald Trump, are the people that were with the Tea Party.


SALENA: That's absolutely right.

So that was the inception.

So American politics has always had movements, that have been just outside of a party. Or within a party.

That galvanize and broaden the coalition. Right? They don't take away. Or walk away, and become another party.

If anything, if there is a third party out there, it's almost a Republican Party.

Because it has changed in so many viable and meaningful ways. And the Tea Party didn't go away. It strengthened and broadened the Republican Party. Because these weren't just Republicans that became part of this party.

It was independents. It was Democrats.

And just unhappy with the establishment Republicans. And unhappy with Democrats.

And that -- that movement is what we -- what I see today.

What I see every day. What I saw that day, in butler, when I showed I happen at that rally.

As I do, so many rallies, you know, throughout my career. And that one was riveting and changed everything.

GLENN: You made a great case in the opening chapter. You talk about how things were going for Donald Trump.

And how this moment really did change everything for Donald Trump.

Changed the trajectory, changed the mood.

I mean, Elon Musk was not on the Trump train, until this.

SALENA: Yeah.

GLENN: Moment. What do I -- what changed? How -- how did that work?

And -- and I contend, that we would have much more profound change, had the media actually done their job and reported this the way it really was. Pragmatism

SALENA: You know, and people will find this in the book. I'm laying on the ground with an agent on top of me.

I'm 4 feet away from the president.

And there's -- there's notices coming up on my phone. Saying, he was hit by broken glass.

And to this take, that remains part of this sibling culture, in American politics.

Because reporters were -- were so anxious to -- to right what they believed happened.

As opposed to what happened.

And it's been a continual frustration of mine, as a reporter, who is on the ground, all the time.

And I'll tell you, what changed in that moment.

And I say a nuance, and I believe nuance is dead in American journalism.

But it was a nuance and it was a powerful conversation, that I had with President Trump, the next day. He called me the next morning.

But it's a powerful conversation I had with him, just two weeks ago.

When he made this decision to say, fight, fight, fight.

People have put in their heads, why they think he said it. But he told me why he said that. And he said, Salena, in that moment, I was not Donald Trump the man. I was a former president. I was quite possibly going to be president again.

And I had an obligation to the country, and to the office that I have served in, to project strength. To project resolve.

To project that we will not be defeated.

And it's sort of like a symbolic eagle, that is always -- you know, that symbol that we look at, when we think about our country.

He said, that's why I said that. I didn't want the people behind me panicking. I didn't want the people watching, panicking.

I had to show strength. And it's that nuance -- that I think people really picked up on.

And galvanized people.

GLENN: So he told me, when he was laying down on the stage.

And you can hear him. Let me get up. Let me get up.

I've got to get up.

He told me, as I was laying on the stage. I asked him, what were you thinking? What was going through your head? Now, Salena, I don't know about you.

But with me. It would be like, how do I get off the stage? My first was survival.

He said, what was going on through his mind was, you're not pathetic. This is pathetic.

You're not afraid. Get up.

Get up.

And so is that what informed his fight, fight, fight, of that by the time that he's standing up, he's thinking, I'm a symbol? Or do you think he was thinking, I'm a symbol, this looks pathetic. It makes you look weak.

Stand up. How do you think that actually happened?

SALENA: He thinks, and we just talked about this weeks ago. He -- you know, and this is something that he's really thought about.

Right? You know, he's gone over and over and over. And also, purpose and God. Right? These are things that have lingered with him.

You know, he -- he thought, yes.

He did think, it was pathetic that he was on the ground. But he wasn't thinking about, I'm Donald Trump. It's pathetic.

He's thinking, my country is symbolically on the ground. I need to get up, and I need to show that my country is strong.

That our country is resolute.

And I need people to see that.

We can't go on looking like pathetic.

Right?

And I think that then goes to that image of Biden.

GLENN: You have been with so many presidents.

How many presidents do you think that you've personally been with, would have thought that and reacted that way?

SALENA: Probably only Reagan. Reagan would have. Reagan probably would have thought that.

And if you remember how he was out like standing outside.

You know, waving out the window. Right?

After he was shot.

GLENN: At the hospital, right.

SALENA: Had he not been knocked out, unconscious, you know, he probably would have done the same thing.

Because he was someone who deeply believed in American exceptionalism.

And American exceptionalism does not go lay on the ground.

GLENN: And the symbol.

Right. The symbol of the presidency.

SALENA: Yeah. Absolutely. And I think that affects him today.

GLENN: So let me go back to God.

Because you talked to him the next day. And your book Butler.

He calls you up.

I love the fact that your parents would be ashamed of you. On what you said to him.

The language you used. That you just have to read the book.

It's just a great part.

But he calls you the next morning. And wants to know if you're okay.

And you -- you then start talking to him, about God.

And I was -- I was thinking about this, as I was listening to it. You know, Lincoln said, I wasn't -- I wasn't a Christian.

Even though, he was.

I wasn't a Christian, when I was elected. I wasn't a Christian when my son died.

I became a Christian at Gettysburg.

Is -- is -- I mean, I believe Donald Trump always believes in God, et cetera, et cetera.

Do you think there was a real profound change at Butler with him?


SALENA: Absolutely. You know, he called me seven times that day. Seven times, the take after seven.

GLENN: Crazy.

SALENA: Talked about. And I think he was looking for someone that he knew, that was there. And to try to sort it out.

Right? And I let him do most of the talking. I didn't pressure him.

At all. I believed that he was having -- you know, he was struggling. And he needed to just talk. And I believed my purpose was to listen.

Right? I know other reporters would have handled it differently. And that's okay. That's not the kind of reporter that I am.

And I myself was having my own like, why didn't I die?

Right?

Because it went right over my head.

And -- and so I -- he had the conversation about God.

He's funny. I thought it was the biggest mosquito in the world that hit me.

But he had talked profoundly about purpose. You know, and God.

And how God was in that moment.

It --

GLENN: I love the way you -- in the book, I love the way you said that as he's kind of working it out in his own he head.

He was like, you know, I -- I -- I always knew that there was some sort of, you know -- that God was present.

He said, but now that this has happened.

I look back at all of the trials.

All of the tribulations. Literally, the trials.

All of the things that have happened. And he's like, I realized God was there the whole time.

SALENA: Yes. He does. And it's fascinating to have been that witness to history, to have those conversations with him. Because I'm telling you. And y'all know, I can talk. I didn't say much of anything.

I just -- I just listened. I felt that was my purpose, in that moment.

To give him that space, to work it out.

I'm someone that is, you know, believes in God.

I'm Catholic. I followed my faith.

And -- and so, I thought, well, this is why God put me here. Right?

And to -- to have that -- to hear him talk about purpose, to hear him say, Salena. Why did I put a chart down?

I'm like, sir. I don't know. I thought you were Ross Perot for a second.

He never has a chart. And he laughed. And then he said, why did I put that chart down?

By that term, I never turned my head away from people at the rally. That's true.

That relationship is very transactional. It's very -- they feed off of each other.

It's a very emotive moment when you attend a rally. Because he has a way of talking at a rally. That you believe that you are seeing.

And he said, and I never turn my head away.

I never turn my head away.

Why did I turn my head away?

I don't remember consciously thinking about turning my head away. And then he says to me, that was God, wasn't it?

Yes, sir. It was. It was God.

And he said, that's -- that's why I have a new purpose.

And so, Glenn. I think it's important, when you look at the breadth of what has happened, since he was sworn in.

You see that purpose, every day.

He doesn't let up.

He continues going.

And it brings back to the beginning of the book.

Where you find out, that there was another president that was shot at in Butler.

And that was George Washington. And how different the country would have been, had he died in that moment.

And now think about how different the country would be, had President Trump died in that moment. There would be --

GLENN: We're talking to -- we're talking to Salena Zito. About her new book called Butler. The assassination attempt on President Trump. And it is riveting.

And, you know, it is so good. I wish the press would read it. Because it really explains who we are, who Trump supporters are. Who are, you know, red staters. It is so good at that. She's the best at that.