In the years since the pandemic, we’ve seen story after story about worker shortages that are filled with employers complaining that nobody wants to work anymore. The question that comes to mind — which isn’t always asked — is, “Well, are you paying them enough?”
At Waffles and Whatnot — a beloved East Anchorage restaurant serving up waffles, fried chicken and more — you won’t find any complaints about worker shortages or worker turnover. There, owner Derrick Green prides himself on taking care of his employees, highlighted by the fact that he hasn’t had any turnover in two years.
“COVID taught me that taking care of the people was the most important thing, making sure that they’re not worried if they get sick … or making sure that they can make the payments for their mortgage and utilities and all that stuff without issue,” he said in an interview with The Alaska Current on a rainy Thursday morning. “I get the best performance from these guys.”
Waffles and Whatnot is among a coalition of Alaska businesses, Alaska Businesses for Better Jobs, publicly backing Ballot Measure 1 in this year’s general election. The voter initiative would raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2027, with annual inflation adjustments afterward. It would also guarantee paid sick leave for most employees.
As a steady stream of customers filtered into the restaurant, a small crew of Waffles and Whatnot employees took, prepared and delivered orders of decadent sweet waffles and mouth-watering savory combinations in a friendly and inviting atmosphere. Green grinned with pride throughout, noting that he rarely had to worry about the restaurant while he was away and that employees frequently took the initiative to fix things independently.
Midway through the interview, longtime employee Kelvin dropped off a signature chicken, waffle and bacon sandwich known as the Salty BAYB (Bad Ass Yard Bird) Daddy with a side of macaroni and cheese. Green remarked that he hadn’t asked him to do that.
Along with paying employees a living wage and providing sick time, every employee is either a part owner or on an ownership track. He said he does that so everyone can share the business’ success. They also conduct annual employee reviews to ensure employees are growing and happy.
Green said his treatment of his workers and his support of Ballot Measure 1 are rooted in his desire to help uplift people in his community and his experience growing up in poverty.
“I remember my mom working three jobs, and one of those jobs was at fruit packing pace, and she was making $4 an hour,” he said. “I distinctly remember when the minimum wage was raised to $4.25, and I remember just how irrelevant that number was because we still had to go fishing or hunting in order to feed ourselves.”
He recalled that his mother struggled to pay the bills despite working long, hard hours, and they would rotate between which bills were paid each month, keeping a drawer of candles for when the electricity bill went unpaid. He said living that way has far-reaching implications on people and their families, with the constant stress creating mental health and relationship problems.
Paying a living wage, he said, gives people stability.
“The reason why I’m supporting Ballot Measure 1 is I’ve seen what happens when people aren’t making a living wage, and we’re in a society now where I feel that the greatest needs, or one of the greatest needs, is a need for connection and a need for providing some sort of stability,” he said. “That living wage is just to be able to say, ‘Hey, you can take care of yourself, you can afford a sitter, you can afford to put gas in your car. You don’t have to decide whether you can only eat one meal a day or two meals a day, or things like that.”
Green also regularly talks with other businesses and says he wishes more employers understood the importance of meeting employees’ needs. He said the cost of higher pay and sick leave may seem daunting to business owners focused on maximizing profit, but it pays major dividends in the long run.
“I think it’s scary,” he said when asked why more businesses don’t operate like Waffles and Whatnot. “As a small business to think of paying somebody a minimum of $15 an hour is a scary proposition because you’re looking at the bottom line. But I think it’s also limited vision and limited thinking. They don’t understand that by paying a minimum wage, you get what you pay for.”
Alaska’s general election will be held on Nov. 5. The deadline to register to vote is Sunday, Oct. 6, and the deadline to apply for a by-mail absentee ballot is Saturday, Oct. 26.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.
