Breaking News: Restaurants Closing All Over Seattle As $15 Minimum Wage Mandate Starts April 1st.

[Wildman]

restaurants that can afford to pay will gain customers,

.... .... .... ....

 

[kiwiman127]

It's not the $15 dollars an hour for larger employers goes into effect immediately. Employers have seven years to the $15 per hour is realized.

After the Seattle Magazine article in full, one can see Townhall (the OP's main source and a seriously right wing leading blog) greatly exxagerated the entire situation, naturally.
From the Seattle Magazine article:


Now personally, I think $15 an hour is too big of a jump. But rest assured. the far right thinks raising the minimum wage a nickel is way too much.

Employers with over 500 employees. Which is what I said yesterday more than likely would be the case. Companies like Starbucks probably paid off the right politicians.

The far right doesn't want any government mandated wages, period. Let the market decide.

Letting "the market decide" has lead to over three decades of flat wage growth and the demise of the working middle class.

 

[Iceweasel]

Letting "the market decide" has lead to over three decades of flat wage growth and the demise of the working middle class.

No, cronyism, government regulations and the high cost of doing business in the US has done that. We haven't enjoyed a free market for some time.

 

[Skull Pilot]

Nah, it won't. Folks will eat out regardless.

Sure but since it will cost more they will eat out less thereby making many employees unnecessary

that is easily solved by mandating that the peoples need to eat out a certain number of times per year

or face serious consequences from the government for failing to do so

I know you're joking but why do I think that some people will think it's a good idea?

 

[SwimExpert]

I'd like to discuss the fact that you were apparently working in a shithole of a sinking failure.

You've already admitted that you were catering to low ball price customers. Stop catering to low ball price customers! That's just a poor business strategy, plain and simple. It seems you are relying on fried food to fill your menu. What the fuck!?! That's the lowest, shittiest type of food for an eatery to be selling. Get a real menu!

But I suspect the main problem is that you and your colleagues are obviously pathetic jokes of managers since you can't do the basic 3rd grade level math to know what your costs are and what your profits are supposed to be in comparison. You paid $12 per case (24 beers) and you only made 20 cents a piece at a retail of $2.50?!?!

Hello!!! At $12 a case, your cost is 50 cents each! If you sold at $2.50 a beer, you were making $2 profit on each, not 20 cents. No wonder you had such a hard time, 90% of your profits were leaking out the door because you were too fucking stupid to know how to do your job! But I guess I should expect no different from a person who doesn't know the difference between a cocktail and a beer.

Hey guess what mr what the fuck....It was a sports bar....and a very successful one at that.....So much so that a larger restaurant company made a very lucrative off on the place and the owner of course sold..Why not? That's what a business is...An investment.
And hey shit for brains....There are other costs associated with running a restaurant than just the cost of the item and the final sale price.
Labor, utilities....Oh why am I bothering to explain....You have your mind made up and you having never been in the food and beverage business are 100% correct...
And it is telling that you are just spewing a bunch of horse shit because you had to resort to calling me names and criticizing me...
Well.
Now, go finish stabbing yourself in the eye with a lawn dart.
You're too fucking stupid to have a job.

So let's recap....

You admit that you're not talking about a restaurant, you're talking about a sports bar. That makes everything you said moot anyway.

You say it was "very successful" but the owner sold it. Why sell it?

How long did the guy own it? Sports bars are one of the most difficult types of bars to operate. They take huge, astronomical investments (more expensive than any other type of concept) and more often than not people find themselves in trouble before long because they can't figure out how to get the place off the ground. They tend to sell because they need to get out. Often the sale is to another person who doesn't know they don't know what they're doing, or to someone who does know how to turn it into a cash cow and is willing to offer a good price to a struggling owner because they know they can do much better than the last shmuck. It's one of the reasons successful sports bars nowadays are usually chain concepts, and why chain sports bars are growing so rapidly. They have the deep pockets to front the initial capital, and they have the experience to make the business successful, which most proprietors lack.

Sports bars generally rely on high volume. A successful sports bar will net millions a year. That's quite a bit more than the $2.13/hr wage of any of their servers!

Alright, you've had your spanking. Now go to bed!

He sold it because the offer was right. The place wasn't for sale. But somebody else wanted it and was willing to pay top dollar...DUH....
Hey empty vessel. I made it abundantly clear earlier in the thread that the place was a sports bar. You were too busy wiping the tears from your eyes after yoour knee jerked upward and struck your chin.
Yes. Sports bars are a tough market. This one was a good one. Hence the reason why it sold for a rather tidy profit.
Why are you trying so hard to appear as though you know something about the F&B business.....never mind. I don't give a shit.
Shut your stink hole. You master of vapidity.

Someone's butthurt after getting spanked.

Doing this.......does not mean you win the argument. it means you have lost touch with reality.

Thanks for admitting you're out of touch with reality.

 

[boedicca]

and to think there was once a time when us middle-agers would have to work in a restaurant when we were teens/early 20's for anywhere between 2.50 and 4.50 hr. and we didnt complain!

$2.50 in 1960 taking into account inflation would be worth $19.96 today.

i can still remember my first job, and probably like many of us in our 50's now, we were working at a local diner, washing dishes for 2.00, 2.30 or so an hour, and we felt kinda rich !!

And coffee was 10 cents a cup. I worked in a service station washing cars at minimum wage, 75 cent/hr. Yesterday, I paid $2 for a cut of coffee. If the cost of coffee is any guide, minimum wage should be $30/hr.

Clearly math isn't your strong suit. Your original ratio of one hour of work to a cup of coffee is 7.5 : 1. It then follows that 7.5 X $2 = $15, not $30.

Actually, I meant a 5 cent cup a coffee not 10 cents. Coffee was readily available at 5 cent where I live. In some place it was 10 cent..

Are you 100 years old?

 

[boedicca]

$2.50 in 1960 taking into account inflation would be worth $19.96 today.

i can still remember my first job, and probably like many of us in our 50's now, we were working at a local diner, washing dishes for 2.00, 2.30 or so an hour, and we felt kinda rich !!

And coffee was 10 cents a cup. I worked in a service station washing cars at minimum wage, 75 cent/hr. Yesterday, I paid $2 for a cut of coffee. If the cost of coffee is any guide, minimum wage should be $30/hr.

Clearly math isn't your strong suit. Your original ratio of one hour of work to a cup of coffee is 7.5 : 1. It then follows that 7.5 X $2 = $15, not $30.

Actually, I meant a 5 cent cup a coffee not 10 cents. Coffee was readily available at 5 cent where I live. In some place it was 10 cent..

The flopper flops.

Indeed - quite the Belly Flop!

 

[kiwiman127]

"No, cronyism, government regulations and the high cost of doing business in the US has done that"-Iceweasel
That is the version from the right.
If that is the case, why has the US National Income continued to grow at a brisk rate but only for the upper income brackett? If "cronyism, government regulations and the high cost of doing business in the US has done that", the upper bracket wouldn't be realizing a record wealth growth rate.
Holding down wages is a great way to enjoy greater profits, which rewards the few.

 

[NYcarbineer]

And Kaboom!!!!!! The myth gets busted:

Sorry Righties, Seattle Restaurant Closures Are NOT Due To $15 Minimum Wage

'Right-wing sites want everyone to believe that, come April 1, the minimum wage in Seattle will jump from the current level to $15 an hour. That’s not what’s happening at all. The new minimum wage will be phased in over several years. How quickly a business reaches the $15 an hour level depends on the size of the business, and whether or not the business offers employees health care benefits, as explained on Seattle mayor Ed Murray’s web page.

The current minimum wage in Washington state is $9.32 an hour. That wage goes to $11 an hour on April 1 for businesses with more than 500 employees.

For businesses such as restaurants, with fewer than 500 employees, who receive “minimum compensation,” that wage can be made up of a combination of wages, tips, and employer contributions to an employee health care plan, as long as the total of all the compensation equals at least $11 an hour.

The full $15 an hour minimum wage does not take effect for restaurants until 2019.'

...

'The right-wing sites mentioned above all latched onto a story in Seattle Magazine, that says that the impending wage increase is one of the reasons for the restaurant closures. However, Sara Jones, author of the story, acknowledges that not a single restaurateur she spoke to gave the wage increase as a reason for his or her restaurant being closed.'

'It is true that Seattle is seeing a large number of restaurants closing their doors. So, what exactly is going on, if it’s not the new minimum wage? It’s a variety of things. According to Seattle Magazine, Anthony Anton, the head of the Washington Restaurant Association, says that each year, about 17 percent of Washington restaurants go out of business, or change owners. That amounts to about 400 restaurants “in a good year,” he says.'

http://www.ifyouonlynews.com/politics/sorry-righties-seattle-restaurant-closures-are-not-due-to-15-minimum-wage/

Okay RWnuts, proceed to deny the facts.

What facts?

Just as I predicted.

 

[NYcarbineer]

Every time the minimum wage has been raised in the past, the economy has gone into a tailspin.

You'd think they would learn by now.

Like in the mid-nineties? lol

 

[healthmyths]

And Kaboom!!!!!! The myth gets busted:

Sorry Righties, Seattle Restaurant Closures Are NOT Due To $15 Minimum Wage

'Right-wing sites want everyone to believe that, come April 1, the minimum wage in Seattle will jump from the current level to $15 an hour. That’s not what’s happening at all. The new minimum wage will be phased in over several years. How quickly a business reaches the $15 an hour level depends on the size of the business, and whether or not the business offers employees health care benefits, as explained on Seattle mayor Ed Murray’s web page.

The current minimum wage in Washington state is $9.32 an hour. That wage goes to $11 an hour on April 1 for businesses with more than 500 employees.

For businesses such as restaurants, with fewer than 500 employees, who receive “minimum compensation,” that wage can be made up of a combination of wages, tips, and employer contributions to an employee health care plan, as long as the total of all the compensation equals at least $11 an hour.

The full $15 an hour minimum wage does not take effect for restaurants until 2019.'

...

'The right-wing sites mentioned above all latched onto a story in Seattle Magazine, that says that the impending wage increase is one of the reasons for the restaurant closures. However, Sara Jones, author of the story, acknowledges that not a single restaurateur she spoke to gave the wage increase as a reason for his or her restaurant being closed.'

'It is true that Seattle is seeing a large number of restaurants closing their doors. So, what exactly is going on, if it’s not the new minimum wage? It’s a variety of things. According to Seattle Magazine, Anthony Anton, the head of the Washington Restaurant Association, says that each year, about 17 percent of Washington restaurants go out of business, or change owners. That amounts to about 400 restaurants “in a good year,” he says.'

http://www.ifyouonlynews.com/politics/sorry-righties-seattle-restaurant-closures-are-not-due-to-15-minimum-wage/

Okay RWnuts, proceed to deny the facts.

Not a single one of you right wing fuck heads want to touch this article now do ya?

Nice job of shutting them up NY.

A.) HOW many did she speak to? 3...? 10.... 400 restaurants that are going out of business?

B) The realities of running a business EVEN with it being phased IN by 2019... THE owner's share will BE DECREASING!
So rather then see their net profit continue to fall... THEY ARE QUITTING!
Here are the facts on running a restaurant:

“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.
More Seattle restaurants close doors as 15 minimum wage approaches AgainstCronyCapitalism.org

“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.”

But see you LIPs/anti-business idiots don't have an IDEA what the above percentages mean do you?
So 36% is used for labor... IF the minimum wage increases from $7.25 to $15/hour that is a 50% increase...
Labor increase then 50% means 36% goes to 54%... that is from $252,000 for labor costs to $378,000 and increase of $126,000.
If all other costs stay the same....that means the $28,000 the owner made before minimum wage is now a $100,000 LOSS!
The owner can't stay in business with a loss!

 

[NYcarbineer]

And Kaboom!!!!!! The myth gets busted:

Sorry Righties, Seattle Restaurant Closures Are NOT Due To $15 Minimum Wage

'Right-wing sites want everyone to believe that, come April 1, the minimum wage in Seattle will jump from the current level to $15 an hour. That’s not what’s happening at all. The new minimum wage will be phased in over several years. How quickly a business reaches the $15 an hour level depends on the size of the business, and whether or not the business offers employees health care benefits, as explained on Seattle mayor Ed Murray’s web page.

The current minimum wage in Washington state is $9.32 an hour. That wage goes to $11 an hour on April 1 for businesses with more than 500 employees.

For businesses such as restaurants, with fewer than 500 employees, who receive “minimum compensation,” that wage can be made up of a combination of wages, tips, and employer contributions to an employee health care plan, as long as the total of all the compensation equals at least $11 an hour.

The full $15 an hour minimum wage does not take effect for restaurants until 2019.'

...

'The right-wing sites mentioned above all latched onto a story in Seattle Magazine, that says that the impending wage increase is one of the reasons for the restaurant closures. However, Sara Jones, author of the story, acknowledges that not a single restaurateur she spoke to gave the wage increase as a reason for his or her restaurant being closed.'

'It is true that Seattle is seeing a large number of restaurants closing their doors. So, what exactly is going on, if it’s not the new minimum wage? It’s a variety of things. According to Seattle Magazine, Anthony Anton, the head of the Washington Restaurant Association, says that each year, about 17 percent of Washington restaurants go out of business, or change owners. That amounts to about 400 restaurants “in a good year,” he says.'

http://www.ifyouonlynews.com/politics/sorry-righties-seattle-restaurant-closures-are-not-due-to-15-minimum-wage/

Okay RWnuts, proceed to deny the facts.

Not a single one of you right wing fuck heads want to touch this article now do ya?

Nice job of shutting them up NY.

A.) HOW many did she speak to? 3...? 10.... 400 restaurants that are going out of business?

B) The realities of running a business EVEN with it being phased IN by 2019... THE owner's share will BE DECREASING!
So rather then see their net profit continue to fall... THEY ARE QUITTING!
Here are the facts on running a restaurant:

“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.
More Seattle restaurants close doors as 15 minimum wage approaches AgainstCronyCapitalism.org

“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.”

But see you LIPs/anti-business idiots don't have an IDEA what the above percentages mean do you?
So 36% is used for labor... IF the minimum wage increases from $7.25 to $15/hour that is a 50% increase...
Labor increase then 50% means 36% goes to 54%... that is from $252,000 for labor costs to $378,000 and increase of $126,000.
If all other costs stay the same....that means the $28,000 the owner made before minimum wage is now a $100,000 LOSS!
The owner can't stay in business with a loss!

The current minimum wage in Seattle is not $7.25. Stop posting.

 

[SwimExpert]

Health insurance does matter since that's the way it's worded

You need to look closer. The minimum wage requirement allows an employer to count wages, tips, and health insurance as contributions to the minimum requirement. So, in regards to tipped employees at restaurants, health insurance becomes irrelevant, because the server's tips will by themselves satisfy the requirement. The servers will still be making the same wage they made previously, based on state law.

and your theory that tips are honestly reported isn't based on reality.

Again, you need to look closer and pay attention. I never said that servers report tips "honestly." I said that anyone who has half a clue what they're doing in running a restaurant will have safeguards preventing servers from under reporting to such a degree that the employer is forced to pay the server an additional wage.

The server might make $200 on the night for 5 hours work, and only report $100 of that. But it will be more than enough so that it doesn't cost the employer additional wages.

Your employment in "hospitality" isn't evidence that labor isn't a major expense. Lots of bluffing and fluffing there.

I think you need to go back and learn to read. I said that when restaurants fail, labor costs are not generally a contributing factor, and if/when they do become a contributor it generally has to do with overpaying chefs and managers.

 

[Ame®icano]

If you can't afford to pay your workers a decent wage you shouldn't be in business.

The wage is reflection of what labor is worth to business.

 

[Preacher]

If you can't afford to pay your workers a decent wage you shouldn't be in business.

The wage is reflection of what labor is worth to business.

They don't get to decide that. They have proven themselves unworthy of doing so by paying such low wages.

 

[Redfish]

If you can't afford to pay your workers a decent wage you shouldn't be in business.

The wage is reflection of what labor is worth to business.

They don't get to decide that. They have proven themselves unworthy of doing so by paying such low wages.

a business does not get to decide what it can spend on labor????????? WTF is wrong with you? Have you ever actually had a job?

 

[Dana7360]

Oh look! An article that states the reasons for many of the closings!! What a coincidence!!

The OP mentioned "Little Uncle". See why they are closing......

Seattle Magazine Restaurants Why Are So Many Seattle Restaurants Closing Lately

Right in the middle of your article you fucking moron.

And for Seattle restaurateurs recently, there is also another key consideration. Though none of our local departing/transitioning restaurateurs who announced their plans last month have elaborated on the issue, another major factor affecting restaurant futures in our city is theimpending minimum wage hike to $15 per hour. Starting April 1, all businesses must begin to phase in the wage increase: Small employers have seven years to pay all employees at least $15 hourly; large employers (with 500 or more employees) have three.

Since the legislation was announced last summer, The Seattle Times and Eater have reported extensively on restaurant owners’ many concerns about how to compensate for the extra funds that will now be required for labor: They may need to raise menu prices, source poorer ingredients, reduce operating hours, reduce their labor and/or more.

Washington Restaurant Association's 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.

“Everyone is looking at the model right now, asking how do we do math?” he says. “Every operator I’m talking to is in panic mode, trying to figure out what the new world will look like.” Regarding amount of labor, at 14 employees, a Washington restaurant already averages three fewer workers than the national restaurant average (17 employees). Anton anticipates customers will definitely be tested with new menu prices and more. “Seattle is the first city in this thing and everyone’s watching, asking how is this going to change?”

Reading comprehension, you suck at it.

I saw that. It doesn't concede that any closings are due to the increase. In fact..it concludes that more restaurants are opening than ever amidst the increase.

You fuckers have NEVER been able to prove that minimum wage increases cost jobs. NEVER.

You need to find another cause. You lost this one. America wants living wages for all full time employees in all fields and in all locations. Deal with it.

The higher minimum wage has not harmed employment. Washington has the highest state minimum wage in the nation.

Using conservative logic that would mean there's rampant high unemployment in Seattle.

But again the conservatives are wrong. The unemployment rate in Seattle is 4.3% That's numbers for December. It's March and I'm sure the unemployment rate is lower but December is the most recent figures I could find.

Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA Economy at a Glance

 

[Mac1958]

.

Seems to me this will be a good laboratory for a few things. It's not like it's national.

Let's watch the numbers in and around Seattle for a few years and see what happens.

.

 

[Preacher]

If you can't afford to pay your workers a decent wage you shouldn't be in business.

The wage is reflection of what labor is worth to business.

They don't get to decide that. They have proven themselves unworthy of doing so by paying such low wages.

a business does not get to decide what it can spend on labor????????? WTF is wrong with you? Have you ever actually had a job?

Yes. Several. Take Wal Mart for example. When 6 Waltons are worth more than the lower 40% of americans they can afford a lot better than 9 or 10$ an hour.They want to be greedy pieces of shit then governme is forced to step in.

 

[Dana7360]

The Labor Force Participation Rate is "back to the 70s". Job creation in this fake recovery is less than half of what it was in the 80s. We have record numbers of people classified as being in poverty. These aren't exactly hallmarks of a Robust Economy, bub.

1/4 of that labor participation loss is retirees. Others are people going on disability. Yes, certainly a portion of it is people who gave up looking for a job. However the issue isn't so much of a lack of jobs - that growth has been great - it's because wages are too low. People won't take jobs with shitty pay. Another reason for this is that there are too many jobs that Americans are not qualified for. Obama tried to address these issues in two ways: trying to raise the minimum wage and trying to implement job training programs at community colleges. Republicans blocked both of these attempts. They are scumbags.

Translation: 3/4 of the drop is due to Dismal Obamanomics which destroys job creation.

Suck on that lollipop, junior.

Um no. The labor participation has been declining since before Obama took office. You recall that recession that happened at the end of Bush's second term? Yeah that one. We lost 8 million jobs from that and we have regained 11 million since then.

NONSENSE... obama took office after the catastrophic (inevitable) failure of socialist policy, wherein the Ideological Left coerced the financial markets to turn from sound, actuarial lending principle in favor of a perverse notion of 'fairness'... this resulted in the collapse of tens of thousands of businesses who in one way or another were modeled on or around the financial markets.

This resulted in the current depression the US has been in not since 2008... .

Lol you're just saying a bunch of unsubstiated fluff. There are no specifics to what you are saying. What "socialism"? Who what why and where?

I think it's very funny that conservatives use the socialism word in describing a minimum wage law. I guess they consider the constitution socialism.

That's not socialism. It's proper regulation of business which is constitutional according to the Commerce Clause in the constitution.

Liberals are advocating for properly regulated private business.

It's conservatives who are advocating for socialism. conservatives want low paying jobs that people need government assistance to survive. That's socialism. When a business is subsidized by tax dollars, that's a form of socialism.

Liberals are advocating for regulation of private business wages for workers. conservatives are advocating socialism.

It's disgusting because those businesses don't need those tax dollar subsidies. They can properly pay their employees but they refuse to do so.