Posted on 05/24/2015 6:33:11 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Stephane Bombet, Bill Chait, Brooke Williamson, and Alan Schulman give their thoughtful takes on the issue.
News broke on Tuesday that the LA City Council voted to increase the city's minimum wage to $15 by 2020. There is no question that the rather polarizing decision will put a serious strain on small businesses in its attempt to close the income gap. Restaurateurs, who manage notoriously thin margins, are hit especially hard with the new legislation. When asked for their reaction to the wage hike, four restaurant owners expressed disappointment for the failure to consider a more nuanced approach that considers tips into the compensation calculation:
Terrine_Stephane_Bombet_2__1_.0.jpg Restaurateur: Stephane Bombet Restaurant: Terrine Reaction: "In our restaurants no one is paid minimum wage. We respect our employees and help them grow in our organization by giving them access to better positions so they can make more money. However, our net margins are less than 13%, so the idea that we will be able to digest a 67% wage increase is wrong. The math just doesn't add up.
We want to pay everybody more if we can, but it has to be fair. Giving $5 more an hour to a waiter that already makes $40 to $60 an hour makes no sense. But giving $15 an hour to someone that makes $10 with no tips is something we want to do. Therefore, I support the total compensation idea. As long as tips are included in the calculation, everyone should get a raise. But this is the only way we can make it work. If tips do not count toward the minimum, there will be two consequences.
First, will have to let some employees go, and second, we will either be forced to close down or stop opening restaurants.
Does this make any sense to anyone? We have hired over 400 people over the past few years and paid millions of dollars in sales taxes. The answer is not to push restaurateurs in a corner, but to help us be part of the solution. We want to raise the minimum wage, but in a way that doesn't put at risk the jobs of ten of thousands of people in Los Angeles."
Bill_Chait.0.jpgRestaurateur: Bill Chait Restaurants: Bestia, Barrel & Ashes, B.S. Taqueria, Republique, Petty Cash Taqueria Reaction: "To say that we are disappointed with the outcome by the City Council is a tremendous understatement. The restaurants and many small businesses in Los Angeles came out in support of an increase in the minimum wage. In fact we fundamentally agreed with the premise about the necessity due to the high cost of living in the Los Angeles area, particularly for our kitchen staff.
Our basic premise was simple. Let's direct the minimum wage increase to those kitchen workers that needed the increase, and for our front of the house service staff which was already earning well in excess of double even the projected minimum wage, we asked for a bifurcated wage that recognized the huge additional income they earn which is not shareable with the kitchen staff under California law.
Will ultimately lead to the end of the tipping system
We have always felt this was an extremely unfair practice and will ultimately lead to the end of the tipping system. What was most distressing is that the city council president, Herb Wesson, in a closed door session, introduced two new additional amendments to the minimum wage ordinance that were incredibly harmful to small business and had never been discussed. He attempted to jam them through at the behest of organized labor which led to a very contentious situation and it continues to be today. This type of politics undermines the whole credibility of the process and the fair representation of all of us in Los Angeles."
Brooke_Williamson.0.jpgRestaurateur: Brooke Williamson Restaurants: Playa Provisions, Hudson House, The Tripel Reaction: "I understand and completely agree there is a need for a higher minimum wage standard. But in the official documentation from the city regarding the 2020 wage hike, it clearly states that this could result in layoffs and closures for small businesses.
The city is fully aware of the issues that will arise for family-owned restaurants like ours, but won't consider tip credits or a total compensation package as an option. This tactic is proven successful in other cities, and I'm very happy to compensate employees whose tips don't add up to minimum wage, unfortunately this is not an option here in Los Angeles."
IMG_6965__1_.0.jpg Restaurateur: Alan Schulman Restaurants: AKASHA, Sāmbār Reaction: "This is a major game changer for our industry. It will force our industry to redefine itself. There won't be a choice.
The IRS acknowledges tips as income and that is not being considered into the equation. Additionally, the impact the minimum wage will have on our industry is all passing through payroll so worker's comp is directly impacted.
We don't disagree with the increase of the minimum wage, we are asking that they take tips into consideration as part of the process."
Get ready for completely automated fast food restaurants.
In my area the only restaurants that seem to have employees “on the books” are chains; it seems any family-owned restaurant is staffed almost exclusively with illegal aliens. An American greets you and another rings you up; those are the only English speakers in the place.
New wage will be ZERO for those who can’t find work.
Businesses will close. People will lse their jobs. Liberals will eat in the restaurants that didn’t close. And they will feel good about the great work they did.
The elites are unaffected. A $200 or $500 per person tab is all the same to them. That a mom and pop restaurant goes under as a result. What do the elites care; they don’t eat at those sorts of places.
The self-entiltled liberal jerks put themselves out of work by making demands that defied logic and reasoning and now rget’re getting what they deserve. I feel better already
These business owners are stupid for accepting the premise that “we all need to do something about paying a higher wage.”
Typical shared sacrifice horse vomit. It is not the business owner who has to worry about the needs of its workers outside of the workplace. If the worker is still struggling, that’s their problem, not the owner.
These owners don’t need to explain anything to the LA city council or join in some ridiculous roundtable that does nothing but promote the leftist agenda. Simply close your business and relocate if possible, and deprive the city and state of sales tax revenue.
Liberals think they can just mandate something and that only positive things happen. When something happens because of the law of unintended consequences, they always manage to look surprised and blame someone else.
The real minimum wage is $0.00.
They tried completely robotic fast food places years ago. After a very brief novelty wore off, the public lost interest. To make matters worse, the robots maintenance and restaurant cleaning required so much labor that it was just cheaper to hire people.
Bingo.
The premise is wrong. Any business owner should see that and say that. The business determines what it can afford to pay to each individual on staff.
Pretending that government ought to set the wages — in some sort of “reasonable” manner — is pure idiocy.
I think this will be an interesting experiment. Most of the people who live and/or work in LA should be able to leave the city to go to a restaurant in a neighboring city, instead of paying the markedly higher cost of eating in LA.
Huh? Why should California interfere with (or even care) how tips are distributed?
Oh, wait. I forgot. It's California. Every little aspect of every little thing has to be regulated.
True. Since LA residents generally own cars, they're, unlike their NYC counterparts, not stuck with restaurants accessible by mass transit.
The minimum wage for restruant workers in Texas is $2.13
https://www.google.com/search?q=waiter+minimum+wage&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
In Seattle, and now Los Angeles, it will soon be $15. Therefore I simply WILL NOT TIP in either city. I’ll print up some business cards explaining why and leave them in my check.
I’m still trying to figure out how mere city council members think that they have the authority to order THEIR EMPLOYERS, the citizens of their city, to pay their other employees any amount not agreed to by the employer and employee. If you agree to mow my lawn for $10.00, and I agree to pay you that amount....why should anyone else in the world be able to change that agreement?????????????
The left knows fully well what they are doing....creating more dependents on government.
Let LA burn.
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