On April 1st, “fast” prices will increase.
A new law in California will raise the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 an hour, but employers argue that paying employees more will also hurt customers. There is.
Restaurant chains such as McDonald's, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Jack in the Box plan to raise menu prices to cover needed wage increases. Other food business owners said they will have to do the same to catch up.
“Prices are going to go up for everything, even tater tots,” said Brady Farmer, owner of Chef Bradley Cook's Catering.
As a small business owner, he said he is not obligated to raise the minimum wage, but he wants to do the right thing for his employees and doesn't want them to quit. He also said covering additional ground would provide additional benefits.
“Imagine a guy who has to go out and do a 10-hour job of shopping, organizing, driving, etc.,” he said. “There will be an additional charge of $20, $40, $50, $100, or $200 per day.”
Increasing wages will also result in layoffs.
“Our cost of living is rising so fast that we can't keep up,” said Kim Hwang, co-owner of Crab Hut.
Phan has co-owned Club Hut on Convoy Street since 2007.
“I remember when we first put crawfish on the menu it was $8.99 a pound, and this year it's about $23 to $24 a pound, depending on the season,” she says.
Hwang said raising the minimum wage is actually a fair game against inflation, and everyone loses. And before you think this backlash means all bosses are greedy, “I think everyone is entitled to a healthy living wage,” Huang concluded. “But at the same time, we've been raising the minimum wage for the past few years and it's not helping anyone, so we have to kind of review and look at the big picture.”
Effective April 1, California's fast food workers will be guaranteed the highest base pay in the industry. The state's minimum wage for all other workers ($15.50 an hour) is already among the highest in the country.
Rather than increase salaries, Farmer proposed another idea.
“Start using some of your government funds for good,” he said. “Let’s start using it for people and give it back to people so they can do good.”
For fast food restaurants to be required to receive this raise, they would need to have at least 60 stores nationwide, excluding restaurants like Panera Bread that make and sell their own bread. Employees who are not paid the minimum wage can initiate a legal claim with the Labor Relations Board.
Currently, fast food workers in California earn an average hourly wage of $16.60, or just over $34,000 annually, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's below the California Poverty Index for a family of four, a statistic calculated by the Public Policy Institute of California and the Stanford Center on Poverty and Equity that takes into account housing costs and publicly funded benefits.
The new $20 minimum wage is just a starting point. The law authorizes the Fast Food Council to raise wages annually through 2029 by the lesser of 3.5% or the average percentage change in the U.S. Consumer Price Index for urban wage earners and office workers. Founded.
