Benefits Include a Trip to Mexico

YJ's Snackbar employee Gina Kaufmann does overtime with her coworkers down in Chiapas, Mexico.
(pictured at right, Kansas City artist Peregrine Honig accompanies YJ's staff on the trip.)

By Gina Kaufmann

Chiapas Mexico – Jobs with good benefits are hard to find. Most people look for health insurance and a 401K. David Ford, who owns YJ?s Snackbar, has found that if he saves a little bit of money per employee per hour, he can purchase plane tickets on his employees? behalf instead of a small hourly raise. So every year, come January, he shuts his doors to take his regular staffers on vacation, to places like Morocco and Guatemala. This year, he and his staff went to, a Southern Mexican state that is steeped in Mayan tradition. Currently, the region is best known for its revolutionary Zapatista movement, which, since the 1990s has controlled some of the territory. Zapatista leader Subcommander Marcos says he?s defending the rights of indigenous Mexican farmers. YJ?s employee Gina Kaufmann was on the trip to Chiapas, and brought home this audio postcard.

YJ's Snackbar owner David Ford was interviewed by Scott Simon on NPR's Weekend Edition in August, 2005. Listen here.