A beloved Washington restaurant has been forced to close due to the effects of a new minimum wage law.
Bepop Waffle Shop in West Seattle closed its doors for the final time on Monday.
The business’ owner, Corina Luckenbach, blamed the closure on the city’s new minimum wage law that hiked minimum pay up to $20.76 an hour.
Luckenbach said her business had already suffered after years of high inflation but the law, which went into effect on New Year’s Day, was the final straw.
‘I’ve cried every day,’ the business owner told Fox 13.
‘This is financially just not going to make sense anymore, because the increase would cost me $32,000 more a year,’ she explained.
Before the new law, which applies to all businesses no matter what size, if an employee at a small employer earned at least $2.72 per hour in medical benefits or tips, minimum wage was $17.25 per hour.
The change, which also eliminates such tip and benefit credits, brings Seattle’s minimum pay $4 higher than that of Washington State’s requirement.
Bepop Waffle Shop in West Seattle closed its doors for the final time on Monday
Luckenbach said she thought employees should be paid more but that it was not affordable for her business.
The former New Yorker founded Bebop after moving to Seattle a decade ago.
Lower foot traffic in the city as a result of increased home working had also hurt the business since the pandemic.
‘The stories of what it meant to people to come in and feel safe and feel welcomed, I just didn’t know,’ Luckenbach added.
‘I didn’t know how much I affected people, and it’s been really beautiful and cool to find that out.’
Seattle was joined by 48 cities and counties that set their minimum wage to $15 or higher for the first time on January 1.
The highest minimum wage is now in Burien, Washington, where the rate in the town jumped from $16.28 to $21.16 an hour for employers with 500 or more workers.
Experts caution that these wage hikes could strain retailers and restaurants.
Corina Luckenbach established the waffle restaurant after moving to Seattle ten years ago
‘Minimum wage increases add to a general cocktail of cost increases faced by retailers. In response many will have to increase prices, even if only marginally,’ retail expert Neil Saunders of Global Data told DailyMail.com.
‘Given that the average rate of increase is relatively modest, I don’t see companies going out of business over this,’ Saunders previously wrote.
‘But, in a labor intensive industry like retail, even small increases can bite. There will be a consequence in terms of lower profits, higher prices, reduced investment, or cost cutting.’
