California’s fast food minimum wage law bloodbath continues, with low-cost burger empire In-N-Out forced to jack up prices.
In Los Angeles, prices on the chain’s famed double-double burger combo are up almost 7% over last year, jumping $.76 to $11.44; San Francisco has seen the same combo hit $13.63.
And while there’s plenty of price hiking going on — Chik-fil-A prices jumped almost 11% between mid-February and mid-April, while Taco Bell prices have shot up by 3% — there’s beaucoup job-cutting, too.
One local chain, fish taco palace Rubio’s California Grill, shuttered 48 locations in May and filed for bankruptcy in June.
And big guys are making the same move, like Pizza Hut.
And other franchise-based firms reportedly are looking to speed the move toward automation.
None of this should come as a surprise.
Any 17-year-old fry cook could have predicted this was going to happen: Raise the cost of a good like labor, and businesses have to pass that cost on to consumers or use less of it (i.e., cut jobs).
Which is exactly what’s going on, and which in turn means that everyday Americans get hammered even harder.
Almost 80% of consumers in a recent survey regard fast food meals as a “luxury” purchase.
When fast food gigs were low-wage, they were abundant and easy for anyone to get.
Like teens looking to make money after school, or adults just trying to get by.
Though it’s not likely California Gov. Gavin Newsom, for whom the law was a pet project, knows much about that.
Good Time Gavin prefers the French Laundry.
Worse, the law’s totally corrupt: It has a mile-wide carveout cooked up special for Newsom’s billionaire buddy Greg Flynn, who franchises a bunch of Paneras — one of the very few chains not subject to the wage-increase mandate.
The law’s been in effect for less than one quarter, and it’s already cooking workers and consumers alike.
If it keeps up, expect average Californians to end up well (and truly) done.