One Los Angeles-based restaurant owner is concerned that customers and employees will bear the price of California’s soon-to-be adopted fast food minimum wage.
“We are the ones that were tough enough to be the mom-and-pop businesses that survived COVID. And now we’re slammed with this, which has a direct impact on small businesses,” Angela Marsden said on “America’s Newsroom” Friday.
“We’re going to have massive layoffs, massive job losses,” she said. “And when it comes to being a mom-and-pop shop, if you can make $20 an hour dropping fries at McDonald’s, how much do you expect me to pay to make a nice meal or a nice hamburger?” My hamburger is currently costing around $20 an hour.”
In December, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation raising the minimum wage for food industry workers to $20 per hour. Workers in other industries in the state earn a minimum pay of $15.50, one of the highest in the nation.
The higher pay goes into effect on April 1, 2024, and applies to workers at restaurants with at least 60 outlets nationally, excluding those that make and sell their own bread.
Marsden reported that a buddy who owns seven McDonald’s franchises planned to close four sites owing to rising labor costs.
“Now they are being laid off. “They’re losing their jobs,” the restaurant owner explained. “Gavin Newsom, I’m hoping the United States is watching. I pray he never becomes President. This dude is wrecking California. I don’t see why people don’t realize he’s the greatest deceiver of all time.”
Other California food franchises, including Pizza Hut, Southern California Pizza, Round Table Pizza, and Vitality Bowls, have announced layoffs in response to the rule.
“It’s a silent tax on the people. The taxpayers will pay for the layoffs. The public will now pay $26 for the hamburger. The lower, medium, and upper classes have been completely locked out. They can’t afford to go to McDonald’s, let alone come to my house. “And businesses are collapsing,” Marsden complained.
“My kitchen has been here since 1978, and I terminated my bookkeeper. “I’ve reduced my hours,” she explained. “It is literally making way for corporations and big [conglomerates], people with a lot of money will be able to have a business.”
The restaurant owner speculated that Newsom wanted to encourage the business to use artificial intelligence (A.I.) solutions to keep its doors open.
“People should wake up. This is like going to the circus and seeing a person perform a big fancy trick,” Marsden explained. “Meanwhile, somebody is stealing all the money out of your pocket, because this tax is being passed on to the consumer.”