Jon Taffer: 2020 Democrats' $15 minimum wage push is 'horrifying' for restaurant industry
'Bar Rescue' host Jon Taffer says no industry can sustain a 50 percent labor cost increase.
"Bar Rescue" host Jon Taffer said Tuesday that a $15 minimum wage would be "horrifying" for the restaurant industry, responding to 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls who have pushed for such a policy on the federal level.
“It’s horrifying. Think about it, based upon different states and the tax credit you get for tips, it's a 50 percent or greater labor cost increase. No industry can sustain a 50 percent labor cost increase," Taffer told “Fox & Friends” after being asked about the impact on the restaurant industry.
Taffer said that, as a result of minimum wage increases, Seattle lost nearly 1,000 restaurants and described the measure as a “shock to the [restaurant] industry economically."
SEATTLE-BASED RESTAURANT CHAIN BLAMES HIGH MINIMUM WAGE FOR BANKRUPTCY
Restaurants Unlimited, a Seattle-based company that owns 35 upscale restaurants across the country, filed for bankruptcy in July and declared, “Over the last three years, the company’s profitability has been significantly impacted by progressive wage laws along the Pacific coast…the result was to increase the company’s annual wage expenses by an aggregate of $10.6 million.”
Restaurants Unlimited went on to cite three examples in which minimum wages have risen dramatically over the last three years. Portland now requires $12.50 an hour, an increase of 35 percent. San Francisco’s minimum wage has climbed 41 percent to $15.59 per hour. And Seattle, the first city with a $15 minimum wage, now forces large employers to pay at least $16 an hour.
Restaurants Unlimited did raise menu prices and even added a living wage surcharge to bills. But it still lost money.
2020 DEMS MAKE HARD SELL FOR ORGANIZED LABOR, BUT UNIONS IN NO RUSH TO ENDORSE
On Labor Day, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said the holiday puts a spotlight on “the needs of working families.”
Sanders made his pitch to raise the minimum wage to “a living wage,” gender pay equality, and to make “it easier for workers to be able to join unions.”
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Taffer said restaurants face a "crisis mode" when confronted with a choice of raising prices significantly to account for higher labor costs or cut workers.
“What we’re going to do is we’re going to eliminate employees and we’re going to incentivize more robotics,” said Taffer, whose Paramount Network show is about to kick off its sixth season.
"When they talk about raising wages and raising taxes, it doesn't make sense to me."
Fox News' Dan Springer and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
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