{"id":180777,"date":"2017-01-07T19:34:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-08T00:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2017\/01\/07\/even-the-fast-food-industry-benefits-from-a-higher-minimum-wage\/"},"modified":"2017-01-07T19:34:00","modified_gmt":"2017-01-08T00:34:00","slug":"even-the-fast-food-industry-benefits-from-a-higher-minimum-wage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2017\/01\/07\/even-the-fast-food-industry-benefits-from-a-higher-minimum-wage\/","title":{"rendered":"Even the Fast Food Industry Benefits from a Higher Minimum Wage"},"content":{"rendered":"

The CEO of Wetzel\u2019s Pretzels was rather surprised when California’s minimum wage hike boosted his profits<\/a>:<\/p>\n

When California began raising its minimum wage two years ago, Bill Phelps and his investors were worried. Phelps is CEO of a fast food company called Wetzel\u2019s Pretzels, which has almost 100 outlets in California.<\/span>

<\/span> \u201cLike most business people I was concerned about it,\u201d he said.<\/span>

<\/span> The state increased the minimum wage in mid-2014 and just raised it again on Jan. 1 to $10.50 per hour for companies that employ more than 25 people. Smaller businesses will have a delay in implementation, but will follow suit as California moves along on its schedule to reach $15 per hour by 2022.<\/span>

<\/span> Phelps and a lot of other fast food CEOs have been worried that wage increases will cut into profits, and that if they raise prices to compensate, fewer people will come eat. So two years ago, Phelps prepared to take a hit. But something else happened entirely. Sales at his California stores immediately shot up.<\/span>

<\/span> \u201cI was shocked,\u201d Phelps says. \u201cI was stunned by the business.\u201d<\/span>

<\/span> The same exact pattern took place again in 2016, when the minimum wage rose again, Phelps said. There was a wage increase, and then boom, a bump in same-store sales across the state that held for most of the year.<\/span>

<\/span> \u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span>

<\/span> \u201cMy overall sales were something like 15 percent ahead after the first minimum wage bump, and now they\u2019re about 12 percent ahead this year,\u201d Jacobs said. \u201cIt isn\u2019t because I\u2019m such a great manager or smart guy, but the buying public has more money in their pocket<\/span><\/b>.\u201d<\/span>

<\/span> Jacobs says not only are more people coming to shop, but they\u2019re buying more. Sure enough, as Jacobs and I talk, a mall employee stops in to buy a pretzel. He ends up also paying for a dipping sauce and a drink. Jacobs says sales like this are happening all the time.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(emphasis mine<\/i>)<\/p>\n

It’s something that liberal economists have been saying for years.<\/p>\n

H\/t Crooks and Liars<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The CEO of Wetzel\u2019s Pretzels was rather surprised when California’s minimum wage hike boosted his profits: When California began raising its minimum wage two years ago, Bill Phelps and his investors were worried. Phelps is CEO of a fast food company called Wetzel\u2019s Pretzels, which has almost 100 outlets in California. \u201cLike most business people …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[775,782,774,813],"class_list":["post-180777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-employment","tag-philosophy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180777"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180777\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}