13 thoughts on “Restaurateurs rake off 3% slice of employee minimum wage hike because “government mandates.””
Oh my god. A 3% rise in prices at a restaurant? That'd mean my $50 meal would cost a buck fifty more !?!?! I'm with the restaurant owners, I can't abide this creeping socialism!
Thanks, mods, for extracting this from the slush pile.
I wrote to the author of this article, and our exchange follows:
Very thorough article except for one thing: no comments from anyone actually affected by the minimum wage hike, e.g. servers, cooks, bus people etc. Seems like the owners just want a slice of the employees' wage hike for themselves. "Government mandate," c'mon.
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When I was reporting the story, a lot of the servers didn't know about this yet, so when I tried to ask, they were in the dark or were leary of talking without getting permission from the owners. I think their comments would have been more relevant if tipping was going to be eliminated.
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Fair enough; it just came across a bit slanted for lack of the the point of view of those might see a minimum wage increase as a good thing. You wonder if the restaurateurs also consider Social Security, workmans' comp and sales taxes as "government mandates." Probably!
Thanks for your response, and Happy New Year!
Because really: how much ad space do bus persons and dishwashers buy in the San Diego Union-Tribune, a tronc, Inc property?
"…They ultimately concluded that the dining public would better tolerate a charge at the end of the bill than continued price hikes on the menu…"
Right, because that makes it look more like it was teh evil gummint doing it than the greedy business owners.
An old friend of mine has been a restaurateur in the Big Bear area for a long time, and constantly bitches that his waitstaff already earn more than he does as the owner. I of course seriously doubt this, because for one, most of his waitstaff don't even own the house they live in, let alone the three that he owns, plus the business. Typical GOPer logic.
"I hope you understand how you paying the extra 3% surcharge is keeping my money grubbing employees and the gubmint from stealing me blind! Thanks friend, and vote accordingly to roll back this tragedy"
He is among a number of San Diego’s mostly higher-end restaurant operators — from Tracy Borkum of the Urban Kitchen Group and Mike Morton Jr. of the Brigantine chain to Susie and Larry Baumann’s Bali Hai and Tom Ham’s Lighthouse restaurants — that have opted to embrace a surcharge they’re telling diners are needed to cover the cost of “government mandates.”
Oh, fuck them. I can maybe see where a mom-and-pop operation might have a point, but these assholes can find a way to afford to pay their employees a living wage FFS.
Oh my god. A 3% rise in prices at a restaurant? That'd mean my $50 meal would cost a buck fifty more !?!?! I'm with the restaurant owners, I can't abide this creeping socialism!
Thanks, mods, for extracting this from the slush pile.
I wrote to the author of this article, and our exchange follows:
Because really: how much ad space do bus persons and dishwashers buy in the San Diego Union-Tribune, a tronc, Inc property?
The 1% is trying to bitch about a 3% increase
OK, it's eating all my comments now
I'm not sure what got that one, looked through the automatic to queue word list and none of those seem to be listed?
Sometimes IntenseDebate can be a real b*tch.
any truth to the rumor that intensedebate is owned by a restauranteur in SD?
"…They ultimately concluded that the dining public would better tolerate a charge at the end of the bill than continued price hikes on the menu…"
Right, because that makes it look more like it was teh evil gummint doing it than the greedy business owners.
An old friend of mine has been a restaurateur in the Big Bear area for a long time, and constantly bitches that his waitstaff already earn more than he does as the owner. I of course seriously doubt this, because for one, most of his waitstaff don't even own the house they live in, let alone the three that he owns, plus the business. Typical GOPer logic.
"I hope you understand how you paying the extra 3% surcharge is keeping my money grubbing employees and the gubmint from stealing me blind! Thanks friend, and vote accordingly to roll back this tragedy"
Maybe they should all just start a gofundme instead of actually running a business. That has proved to be profitable as fuck the last couple of years.
Oh, fuck them. I can maybe see where a mom-and-pop operation might have a point, but these assholes can find a way to afford to pay their employees a living wage FFS.
http://kjzz.org/content/415063/arizona-supreme-co…
I didn't get many pay raises as big as that in my career!