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.”
Now for my opinion...
What makes you fast food workers think that those of you who have failed to accept the personal responsibility for your own education, and have had multiple children with no planning or sense of social responsibility, think that you can force the rest of us to pay more for FAST FOOD simply because of YOUR lack of planning, lack of education, lack of responsibility, and lack of understanding that everyone's "work" is not worth the same. Whew, that was a mouthful. The problem is this. If you want to be paid more, you must educate yourself to perform a job that demands more wages. If you want to make more money, then figure out the math in your business. Simply work smarter. Tell your owner that you want to be paid piecework... in other words, paid by the burgers that you sell! Only then will each of you understand what you are truly worth. You just might figure out that your lack of education is the source of your problem. Get educated... quit your burger job... and become productive. Education will put an end to this ridiculous demand for high wages for menial work. I leave you with this image...
