More Seattle restaurants close doors as $15 minimum wage approaches

[lostinblue 1,989]

More Seattle restaurants close doors as $15 minimum wage approaches

Seattle’s $15 minimum wage law goes into effect on April 1, 2015. As that date approaches, restaurants across the city are making the financial decision to close shop. The Washington Policy Center writes that “closings have occurred across the city, from Grub in the upscale Queen Anne Hill neighborhood, to Little Uncle in gritty Pioneer Square, to the Boat Street Cafe on Western Avenue near the waterfront.”

Of course, restaurants close for a variety of reasons. But, according to Seattle Magazine, the “impending minimum wage hike to $15 per hour” is playing a “major factor.” That’s not surprising, considering “about 36% of restaurant earnings go to paying labor costs.” Seattle Magazine,

“Washington Restaurant Association’s Anthony Anton puts it this way: “It’s not a political problem; it’s a math problem.”

“He estimates that a common budget breakdown among sustaining Seattle restaurants so far has been the following: 36 percent of funds are devoted to labor, 30 percent to food costs and 30 percent go to everything else (all other operational costs). The remaining 4 percent has been the profit margin, and as a result, in a $700,000 restaurant, he estimates that the average restauranteur in Seattle has been making $28,000 a year.

“With the minimum wage spike, however, he says that if restaurant owners made no changes, the labor cost in quick service restaurants would rise to 42 percent and in full service restaurants to 47 percent.”

Restaurant owners, expecting to operate on thinner margins, have tried to adapt in several ways including “higher menu prices, cheaper, lower-quality ingredients, reduced opening times, and cutting work hours and firing workers,” according to The Seattle Times and Seattle Eater magazine. As the Washington Policy Center points out, when these strategies are not enough, businesses close, “workers lose their jobs and the neighborhood loses a prized amenity.”

A spokesman for the Washington Restaurant Association told the Washington Policy Center, “Every [restaurant] operator I’m talking to is in panic mode, trying to figure out what the new world will look like… Seattle is the first city in this thing and everyone’s watching, asking how is this going to change?” The Washington Policy Center,

“Seattle is rightly famous for great neighborhood restaurants. That won’t change. What will change is that fewer people will be able to afford to dine out, and as a result there will be fewer great restaurants to enjoy. People probably won’t notice when some restaurant workers lose their jobs, but as prices rise and some neighborhood businesses close, the quality of life in urban Seattle will become a little bit poorer.”

in a $700,000 restaurant, he estimates that the average restauranteur in Seattle has been making $28,000 a year.

4 percent has been the profit margin

http://shiftwa.org/more-seattle-restaurants-close-doors-as-15-minimum-wage-approaches/

[Ban Hammer 13,408]

i wonder what that 28k works out to as an hourly wage for the owner..........

[Dakine10 5,452]

Wages don't kill restaurants, restaurants kill restaurants!

[lostinblue 1,989]

i wonder what that 28k works out to as an hourly wage for the owner..........

How about the ROI on that business.

[Ban Hammer 13,408]

How about the ROI on that business.

the left isn't concerned about the roi as the owner is obviously one of those rich guys that should pay his fair share. but i'm left wondering what that owner's hourly rate is - which is probably less than $15 an hour....

[Dakine10 5,452]

Maybe the owner can try get in on a share of the tips.

I don't recall a lot of complaints when the minimum wage for tipped employees was 2 dollars an hour.

[lostinblue 1,989]

the left isn't concerned about the roi as the owner is obviously one of those rich guys that should pay his fair share. but i'm left wondering what that owner's hourly rate is - which is probably less than $15 an hour....

Most business owners work 60-70 hours a week. In that profession it is easy for workers to give away the store. The owner needs to keep an eye on the help a lot. A table of friends having dinner and only half are charged .. things like that. A few steaks out the back door where a friend is waiting. It happens a lot. When the help has a day off he is fixing the grease trap on a Sunday afternoon ..

[Dakine10 5,452]

One trick is to only use the small packages of ketchup. Then they won't have to worry about the whole bottle getting stolen all at once.

[Boiler 45,693]

At least with fewer restaurants the ones left can charge more.

So it will balance out.

[Rattlehead 69]

Because tripling prices is healthy for the economy...

[rlogan 2,036]

Pfft. France solved this problem back in the 1789 revolution. You just execute business owners that close after controls are imposed.

[Sousuke 1,214]

i wonder what that 28k works out to as an hourly wage for the owner..........

700k is a small business IMO, so the owner probably works as well and has a salary.

The average restaurant owner makes 79k not including profit.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Congratulations on such a fact free and baseless 'Rah rah sis boom bah, workers suck! Up with management/owners thread!'

The minimum wage DOES NOT jump to $15 per hour April 1, 2015, the three year crawl, for franchise and very large companies employing 500 or more workers [jeez, doesn't sound like the local mom and pop restaurant 'cause it isn't] START the slow multi-year climb to $15 per hour. Any business quitting this month was failing to begin with, not making a sound business decision in light of LWN/Commie push to extort the true earners and 'job creators' of the economy the ownership class.

A quick google search could easily reveal this story is blowing up, in the RWN blog-osphere, which fortunately isn't the same thing as the actual real world. Carry on gentlemen!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Congratulations on such a fact free and baseless 'Rah rah sis boom bah, workers suck! Up with management/owners thread!'

The minimum wage DOES NOT jump to $15 per hour April 1, 2015, the three year crawl, for franchise and very large companies employing 500 or more workers [jeez, doesn't sound like the local mom and pop restaurant 'cause it isn't] START the slow multi-year climb to $15 per hour. Any business quitting this month was failing to begin with, not making a sound business decision in light of LWN/Commie push to extort the true earners and 'job creators' of the economy the ownership class.

A quick google search could easily reveal this story is blowing up, in the RWN blog-osphere, which fortunately isn't the same thing as the actual real world. Carry on gentlemen!

Reality is less interesting than hyperbole, clearly.

[LibCampFireClub 635]

As long as the left can put the onus of personal responsibility on others, then all is well in their universe. Get an education, work hard, seek to achieve. These are meaningless concepts to the left. Make others do it for you is the apple core.

Ever heard a lib blame themselves for their low aspirations and achievements? Nope. Neither has anyone else.