California Food Wage

Financing

Surprise, surprise: California kept its full-service restaurants in the dark for months

Reality Check: The state attorney general had refused to clarify the scope of the state's pending anti-junk-fee law. It's one more smack in the face to the trade.

Financing

5 bonbons from Denny's not-so-sweet quarterly update

Traffic slumped, but the family-dining stalwart offered a few aha moments in its recount of what happened.

California's AB1228 pushed the fast-casual chain's wage up 20% and menu price hikes will cover the cost. But with first-quarter traffic up more than 5%, Chipotle officials are not worried.

Five units were in California but the fast-food wage there was not to blame, the fast casual said. The closed restaurants in 10 states and the District of Columbia were "underperformers."

The Bottom Line: It’s not certain yet how the $20 wage will impact chain restaurants. But one thing is clear: Most of the companies affected are small businesses that are already facing profit challenges.

The Bottom Line: The restaurant industry has a traffic problem and consumers are fretting about prices. But the $20 fast-food wage in California makes it difficult to market any kind of value.

With all the last-minute sniping by members, the next meeting of the Fast Food Council promises to be a doozy.

With the changeover just days away, state officials have fleshed out what employers and their staffs should expect.

An update last week attempts to address lingering questions about what companies would be impacted by the upcoming fast-food wage hike. It looks like Panera Bread is not exempt after all.

The newly formed California Fast Food Workers Union is already looking to raise the $20-an-hour minimum wage that takes effect April 1.

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