$15 minimum wage

[cardboardbox]

I recalled this discussion from a few months ago in the Trump thread:

I read a study out of Seattle which said, if I remember it correctly, that a $13 minimum wage would raise the cost of a top-of-line fast food hamburger by about 14 cents. I would pay the extra. Anyone balk at a 14 cent premium on your Jumbo Super-Burger if it meant a living wage for a single mother?

It's not accurate. I own a small seasonal restaurant. This is my 19th year. If we had to pay cooks, bus boys and others $15/hr plus the additional increase in payroll taxes, it wouldnt be worth the time and energy. I would literally close the next day. We hire only high school and college kids fwiw.

Today I read this:

San Francisco's higher minimum wage is causing an increasing number of restaurants to go out of business even before it is fully phased in, a new study by the Harvard Business School found.

The closings were concentrated among struggling, lower-rated restaurants. The higher minimum also caused fewer new restaurants to open, it found.

"We provide suggestive evidence that higher minimum wage increases overall exit rates among restaurants, where a $1 increase in the minimum wage leads to approximately a 4 to 10 percent increase in the likelihood of exit," report Dara Lee and Michael Luca, authors of "Survival of the Fittest: The Impact of the Minimum Wage on Firm Exit." The study used as a case study San Francisco, which has an estimated 6,000 restaurants in the Bay Area and is ratcheting up its minimum wage. Restaurants are one of the largest employers of minimum wage workers.

Higher minimum wages also reduce the rate at which new restaurants open by 4-6 percent per $1 increase in the minimum, the study found.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/hi...rticle/2620454

[baldgriff]

And this is no surprise to me.

[bryanbutler]

i don't have a problem with weeding out "struggling, lower-rated restaurants" to give the workers a living wage.

[Redbirds Fan]

So, bad restaurants which are already struggling financially are 4% - 10% more likely to go out of business if the minimum wage is increased? But the increase doesn't have the same effect on the top restaruants?

No, I am not surprised either.

Hey, labor costs are just another market condition, like utilities, rent, matierials, etc. If a restaurant cannot compete in the market with the same labor cost increases as everyone else is facing, why shouldn't they be weeded out by the market? Isn't that a fundamental tenet of the conservative philosophy?

EDIT: Spooky that my post was so close to bryanbutler's.

[cardboardbox]

i don't have a problem with weeding out "struggling, lower-rated restaurants" to give the workers a living wage.

Which is basically the same thing as saying "I dont have a problem with reducing the number of jobs available to the workers so that those who still have a job can get a raise."

[Gregg]

Which is basically the same thing as saying "I dont have a problem with reducing the number of jobs available to the workers so that those who still have a job can get a raise."

This was my first thought as well.

[baldgriff]

"Quote Originally Posted by nots
It's not accurate. I own a small seasonal restaurant. This is my 19th year. If we had to pay cooks, bus boys and others $15/hr plus the additional increase in payroll taxes, it wouldnt be worth the time and energy. I would literally close the next day. We hire only high school and college kids fwiw."

I dare say that Nots is nots running a struggling lower rated restaurant. However, his seasonal establishment is likely closing.

[cardboardbox]

"Quote Originally Posted by nots
It's not accurate. I own a small seasonal restaurant. This is my 19th year. If we had to pay cooks, bus boys and others $15/hr plus the additional increase in payroll taxes, it wouldnt be worth the time and energy. I would literally close the next day. We hire only high school and college kids fwiw."

I dare say that Nots is nots running a struggling lower rated restaurant. However, his seasonal establishment is likely closing.

hopefully his restaurant isnt in SF.

[TranaGreg]

Setting a minimum wage is a tough thing to balance. On the one hand consideration absolutely has to be given to the impact on small business owners. On the other, cost of living has to be part of the equation too ... if it costs $3500 to rent a 1-bedroom (this is San Fran), and the minimum wage is only $12, well basic math says a 40-hour week provides $480 per week or just above $1900 per month (before taxes). Simply put, nobody can afford to live in the city. It seems reasonable that business owners who benefit from the healthy economy in that city should be able to pay its employees enough to support basic living costs.

Even in somewhere like Columbus OH where a 1-bedroom might go for $1000 per month (I used the rent jungle website), rent alone consumes more than 50% of a $12 minimum wage.

There's no easy answer but finding a balance where business owners can make a living while paying it's employees enough to survive seems like a starting place.

[Hornsby]

Restaurants are probably the most volatile business to open, the average life span of a new restaurant is 5 years, with nearly 90% closing their doors in less than a year. So while making them pay a "living" wage isn't going to help them, it's also not the main reason that most will go out of business. It's just the nature of the beast.

http://www.restaurantnews.com/restaurant-industry-trend-the-move-towards-a-more-upscale-look/

[Fresno Bob]

Restaurants are probably the most volatile business to open, the average life span of a new restaurant is 5 years, with nearly 90% closing their doors in less than a year. So while making them pay a "living" wage isn't going to help them, it's also not the main reason that most will go out of business. It's just the nature of the beast.

http://www.restaurantnews.com/restau...-upscale-look/

this......a zillion places open in SF, and most of them close. We also mandate that you pay healthcare for your workers in SF. This is a basic cost of doing business here, and as a resturant, you 100% control your prices.

bookstores and comic book shops are the ones getting hammered. They can not raise/set prices for the books and comics they sell, those are set by the publishers. My local SciFi/Fantasy/Horror bookstore, Borderlands Books, went with a sponsorship model to handle the minimum wage bump.

[cardboardbox]

this......a zillion places open in SF, and most of them close. We also mandate that you pay healthcare for your workers in SF. This is a basic cost of doing business here, and as a resturant, you 100% control your prices.

So what you're saying is restuarants can jack up prices to make up for government mandated increase in expenses. Then consumers can stay home and a number of businesses and jobs will disappear.

[Hi.I'm.Mandy]

So what you're saying is restuarants can jack up prices to make up for government mandated increase in expenses. Then consumers can stay home and a number of businesses and jobs will disappear.

The people will all find new jobs unless they are just lazy and don't want a job....right ? Aren't all unemployed people just lazy people who want to leech off us working people ?

[Redbirds Fan]

So what you're saying is restuarants can jack up prices to make up for government mandated increase in expenses. Then consumers can stay home and a number of businesses and jobs will disappear.

Don't fret, Chicken Little. Consumers won't stay home. The restaurant industry is booming. Food and drink sales have grown by over $200 billion in the last eight years. In 2016, for the first time in our nation's history, Americans spent more money at restaurants and bars than they did at grocery stores.

We love to eat out and drink up. And the younger generations are more into 'experiencing' than they are 'acquiring', so the trend should continue. Instagram, baby!

[Hi.I'm.Mandy]

The people will all find new jobs unless they are just lazy and don't want a job....right ? Aren't all unemployed people just lazy people who want to leech off us working people ?

EDIT: Nevermind that is just the argument from conservatives when discussing government spending for welfare or social programs. Clearly doesn't apply here though