“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.”
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.” – READ MORE