---
title: "Food Franchises Giving US Economic Growth a Major Boost"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/69724d23-b4dd-4da9-b77d-ba643c80ee47
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/food-franchises-giving-us-economic-growth-a-major-boost-1227
category: "Restaurants"
industry: "Restaurants"
published: 2015-03-02T17:12:51.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T22:34:29.653Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/8324ac8fa6a09aaace4eafc6729c845a9462.jpg
---

# Food Franchises Giving US Economic Growth a Major Boost

**TL;DR:** Restaurant wages rose at an annualized rate of more than 3 percent during the second half of 2014, up from a 1.5 percent annualized rate during the first half of 2013. Checkers added 20 stores over 2014, hiring hundreds of new employees and raising wages twice as fast as the company did in 2013.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2015-03-02. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/food-franchises-giving-us-economic-growth-a-major-boost-1227).*

## Story

The Wall Street Journal spotlights employment, wage growth increases from restaurant industry.

Citing data from the U.S. Labor Department, The Wall Street Journal recently highlighted how restaurants are helping to increase wage growth across the country.

The Journal reported that restaurant wages rose at an annualized rate of more than 3 percent during the second half of 2014, up from a 1.5 percent annualized rate during the first half of 2013. This comes at a time when improved sales growth has led many restaurants to focus on hiring more employees.

“After a few hard years, customers are treating themselves again,” Jennifer Durham, vice president of franchise development at Checkers Drive-In Restaurants Inc., told the news source.

The Journal went on to say that increased sales helped Checkers add 20 stores over 2014, hiring hundreds of new employees and raising wages twice as fast as the company did in 2013.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- restaurant industry (topic)
- Checkers (company)
- store expansion (topic)
- Jennifer Durham (person)
- wage growth (topic)
- employment growth (topic)
- U.S. Labor Department (regulator)

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Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/food-franchises-giving-us-economic-growth-a-major-boost-1227). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/69724d23-b4dd-4da9-b77d-ba643c80ee47).