I interrupted 2 dimwits sitting near me in the urgent care clinic this weekend as they were discussing this.
I asked if they were ready to pay $10 or more for a double cheeseburger and $6 or more for an order of fries. They just looked at me and said NO.
I explained that SOMEONE would have to pay for these higher wages and of course the cost of food would go up. I said gas would probably rise to around $8 or more per gallon and they stared at me!
It just absolutely did not compute. Blank faces - they do not get it. Idiots.
They won’t pay that much for a burger and fries. Few will. And the burger joints will go out of business.
That just happened to a local pizza joint. GREAT pizza. But between minimum wage increases and higher flour costs (no doubt due to corn being grown for ethanol rather than wheat) - he went out of business. And he said that when he had to pay his inexperienced help more (min. wage), he felt that he had to pay his experienced people more as well to keep them around.