Reply to Bowser repealing minimum wage increases. What

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why can't they eliminate servers. Have customers pickup their food at the kitchen counter.[/quote]

We're well on our way to that making up 75 percent of DC restaurants, with most of them national chains. The other 25 percent will be expense-account places. No middle ground because of I-82.[/quote]

Yep, kiss locally-owned, affordable and neighborhood focused sit-down restaurants good-bye. They all are an endangered breed. Food halls, and other places without servers are going to be it for everything short of fine dining or Cheese-Cake Factory type places.

Maybe that's fine, but the I-82 backers either had no idea this would happen or were lying about it. [/quote]

Strange. In my travels to Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington state, I could swear that I’ve eaten at many “locally-owned, affordable and neighborhood focused sit-down restaurants”. Yet all of these states mandate that restaurants pay all staff the standard minimum wage that applies to all other workers. Is there something special about these states that does not apply to DC or do you just habitually pull arguments out of thin air?[/quote]

Ok, I'll bite. So why do you think all these restaurants are going out of business and blaming I-82? They are just closing their businesses to spite you? Something else is making them close and they just don't know their books?[/quote]

What else has changed in DC and the US economically generally over the past few years that might cause restaurants to go out of business at an accelerated rate? And how frequently do restaurants go out of business even when times are good? I-82 was not optimal in that it phased in the change over four years. A better approach would probably have just been to unify the tipped minimum wage and regular minimum wage at once. That would have eliminated the possibility for the shenanigans that all of us who have eaten out at DC restaurants have been witness to. And those shenanigans have been an expensive own goal by the restaurant industry. I’d be willing to wager more than a few establishments have lost significant business by pissing off their customers by instituting junk fees to protest I-82. Other restaurants who have adapted by simply raising their menu prices or introducing a surcharge - with a clear policy that tips are not expected - have done much better.[/quote]

This is so dumb, in so many ways. This was not a good idea that was just poorly implemented. It was a stupid, naive idea that no one should have ever taken seriously. [/quote]

You’re calling other people dumb. How interesting. But you see two things happen at the same time and are convinced that one caused the other. And pass off the opinions of those who are literally invested in the issue as objective fact. The rest of us will take the results of economic studies of the issue over the views of failed restauranteurs, but thanks for your sharing your views about I-82 anyway. The restaurant owner lobby is very lucky to have you.[/quote]

It wasn't that long ago when places like the New York Times were writing about the amazing restaurant scene in DC. Now all the stories are like this:

‘It’s just not sustainable’: D.C. restaurants pushed to the brink
In the wake of wage hikes and government layoffs, some owners say they can’t keep treading water.

April 14, 2025

https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2025/04/14/dc-restaurant-closings-brooklands-finest-minimum-wage/

44 percent of DC-area restaurants surveyed say they’re ‘likely to close’ by the end of this year

https://wamu.org/story/25/04/04/44-percent-of-dc-area-restaurants-surveyed-say-theyre-likely-to-close-by-the-end-of-this-year/

[/quote]

On average and even in healthy markets, restaurants close and open all of the time. And it should be clear why restaurant owners would want to make the most alarmist case possible for regulatory relief, so we should all take these survey responses with a grain of salt.

That said, it's obvious that many things in recent years that have made it more difficult to run a restaurant in DC. An inevitably incomplete list would include supply shortages, increases in input costs, the rise of teleworking, crime (or the perception thereof), federal layoffs and the cratering regional economy, and so on . . .

I-82 is a disruption, no doubt. But we should be honest that, if the problem for restaurants is a lack of diners, rolling back I-82 isn't going to change much. Unless the restaurant is engaging in wage theft, they have to fully make up the difference between what wait staff make in tips and the regular minimum wage.

If, on the other hand, the restaurant is busy and the tips for wait staff would have allowed them to earn at least the regular minimum wage, the restaurant is going to be paying more in wage costs. But they are fully empowered to recoup these additional wage costs by adding a flat service charge (as Ashok Bajaj's restaurants, such as Bindaas, have done) or, better yet, increasing menu prices and adding a note to the menu that tips are appreciated but not expected.

The argument against I-82 by restaurant owners seems to be that, adding a service fee or increasing menu prices to offset their added wage costs would reduce diner spending. Given how much baseline inflation we've experienced in recent years, this is an argument that is hard to take seriously.

As a regular diner at DC restaurants, what I appreciate is price transparency and what I absolutely hate is a laundry list of fees and surcharges added to my check. Some restaurant owners have tried to foment opposition to I-82 by adding puerile "I-82 Fees" to diner checks and then turning around and claiming that the drop in business they experienced was due to I-82! Frankly, I'd expect more mature behavior from a four year old.

Again, restaurants in DC haven't had it easy over the past few years and not many of us deny that. That said, those restaurants that have adapted to I-82 in a mature manner have won the respect of the community. But the city will be no worse off if it loses those who need junk fees and lobbying to overturn popular initiatives to make a profit. [/quote]

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