Restaurants Are Now Adding A ‘Labor Surcharge’ In Order To Cover Jacked-Up Minimum Wages

Wow. That whole minimum wage thing sure worked out great, didn’t it?

According to this, restaurants in several states where state laws have mandated higher minimum wages have started adding a “Labor Surcharge” to the cost of a customer’s meal. Meaning while the menu prices themselves might not have gone up, the restaurants still have to find a way to cover the cost of continuing to run their business… so your final bill is still going to be higher than expected –

Restaurant diners are footing the bill for rising minimum wages.

In lieu of steep menu price increases, many independent and regional chain restaurants in states including Arizona, California, Colorado and New York are adding surcharges of 3% to 4% to help offset rising labor costs. Industry analysts expect the practice to become widespread as more cities and states increase minimum wages.

“It’s the emerging new norm,” said Sharokina Shams, spokeswoman for the California Restaurant Association. She said California restaurants are adding surcharges as the state lifts the minimum wage every year until it reaches $15 an hour by 2023. It is currently at $10.50 an hour for employers with 26 or more workers.

The “new norm”, huh? I know I say this about pretty much everything that comes out of California, but your “new norm” sucks monkeyballs.

Oh – and the funniest part about all this? One lady was actually OFFENDED that a restaurant in San Diego had a notice that they had started charging customers for their workers’ labor. She called the surcharge a political stunt – because HOW DARE the restaurant owner try to cover government-mandate costs by passing on the charges to the customers!

Jamie Hampton, 37 years old, walked out San Diego’s BO-beau kitchen + bar in January after seeing a notice about the surcharge. She and her boyfriend chose a restaurant across the street that didn’t charge one.

“I think they were just making a political statement,” said Ms. Hampton, who voted for the minimum-wage increase and said she was personally offended that the restaurant blamed the wage increase for higher prices.

Um… Jamie? Where do you think the money for those extra costs is going to come from??? Pretty sure the owner doesn’t have a magic unicorn that suddenly makes money come from nowhere.

Basic economics FAIL.

Just as a matter of curiosity, here’s what the restaurant’s notice looks like on their website –

Hm… kind of sounds like a “Fight for $15” mantra. All that crap about how much every food service worker deserves $15/hour – how is what this restaurant said about it any different?

(True, this restaurant seems to be a bit more higher class than some fast food joint. It’s quite possible that their employees do deserve a raise. But that’s for the owner and managers to decide, not the government).

Political stunt? Yeah, no. Here’s what the restaurant owner had to say –

David Cohn, who owns 15 restaurants in San Diego, including BO-beau, said his 3% surcharge wasn’t a stunt.

“We want people to understand there is a cost,” Mr. Cohn said. “How do we stay in business with margins shrinking and competition increasing?”

Don’t try to explain business and the economy to these people. They just stick their fingers in their ears and ignore you.

What’s stupid about this is that they’re portraying this as no different than paying gratuities or taxes, but let’s not kid ourselves. Whether the prices on the menu actually go up or this just gets tacked on the final bill, you’re still paying more to eat out. Which means that fewer people will be able to afford to go to restaurants, or they’ll simply choose not to go out for dinner.

That will inevitably lead to fewer and fewer profits for restaurants, which will lead to fewer and fewer jobs for restaurant workers. So… so much for a “living wage.”