TJ is correct.

 

I have 210 hours of minimum wage pay per week. Minimum wage is $8.05 in Florida. If the minimum wage goes up to $15 per hour that increases my cost; ($15-8.05)= $6.95 / hr. x 210 hr / week x 52 weeks / year........$75, 894 per year.

 

Yes, that's steep for a small business but it doesn't stop there. IF the dishwashers are making $15 per hour the cooks and bartenders have to make more to be paid according to their abilities and contributions to the business. So let's say we just double that number for the sake of simplicity. Therefore my labor cost goes up roughly $150,000 per year. Ahem, that's not up to $150,000, that's $150,000 above what my current labor costs are.

 

If I were to try to absorb that additional cost through bar sales alone this is how it works. I sell approximately 750 alcoholic drinks per month. Over 12 months that calculates to 9000 cocktails per year. If you divide $150,000 by 9000 drinks my drink prices would have to increase $16.66 per drink!

 

I'm selling basic well drinks for $4.95, i.e. gin and tonic, rum and coke, et. al. Nobody would come into my business and pay $21.66 for a drink when Appleby's, Chili's, and Outback are selling them for $6.50.

 

And somebody (obviously nobody who owns a business) had the audacity to claim businesses don't raise prices because wages go up!

 

Regards...................the Chiefjag

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