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More Seattle restaurants close doors as $15 minimum wage approaches

Craig

Senator
Supporting Member
I hope every one of those workers who lost their jobs sends a thank you note to Seattle's government leaders

It has always been amazing to watch people, who never ran a business or had to meet a payroll, seem to know how to run a business more then the business owners

Those workers now will get $15.00/hr X o hours per week

http://shiftwa.org/more-seattle-restaurants-close-doors-as-15-minimum-wage-approaches/
Been there, done that...

Turns out, everything in those articles is wrong...

Ahem...

...In recent weeks there has been a rash of restaurant closings in the city, and of course, the right is very happy to blame the new minimum wage for those closures. Would it surprise you to learn that they’re not telling you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Right-wing sites want everyone to believe that, come April 1, the minimum wage in Seattle will jump from the current level to $15 an hour. That’s not what’s happening at all. The new minimum wage will be phased in over several years. How quickly a business reaches the $15 an hour level depends on the size of the business, and whether or not the business offers employees health care benefits, as explained on Seattle mayor Ed Murray’s web page.

The current minimum wage in Washington state is $9.32 an hour. That wage goes to $11 an hour on April 1 for businesses with more than 500 employees. For businesses such as restaurants, with fewer than 500 employees, who receive “minimum compensation,” that wage can be made up of a combination of wages, tips, and employer contributions to an employee health care plan, as long as the total of all the compensation equals at least $11 an hour. The full $15 an hour minimum wage does not take effect for restaurants until 2019.

The right-wing sites mentioned above all latched onto a story in Seattle Magazine, that says that the impending wage increase is one of the reasons for the restaurant closures. However, Sara Jones, author of the story, acknowledges that not a single restaurateur she spoke to gave the wage increase as a reason for his or her restaurant being closed.

Seattle Met highlights some of the closings, and the reasons for them. Renee Erickson is closing her Boat Street Cafe so that she can concentrate on two other restaurants, both of which she is opening this summer. Wait. She’s closing one, and opening two, and we’re supposed to believe that the one that is closing is due to a higher minimum wage?

Little Uncle is closing their restaurant because they have decided that bigger is not necessarily better. The owners say that the larger location doesn’t fit their personal and professional goals. After closing the larger venue, Little Uncle continues to do businessout of their original, smaller, take-out location.

Grub, an upscale restaurant highlighted in the right-wing coverage of restaurant closings, closed simply because the owner has decided to move on. Sharon Fillingim explains on the restaurant’s Facebook page that she believes it is sometimes best for an entrepreneur to “leave at the top of [her] game.” She makes no mention of the minimum wage increase having any influence in her decision. In fact, contrary to what right wing sites would have you believe, the space occupied by Grub will not be left vacant. Fillingim introduces the new restaurant, Bounty Kitchen, that will take over from Grub, and its owner, in the same Facebook post...


http://www.ifyouonlynews.com/politics/sorry-righties-seattle-restaurant-closures-are-not-due-to-15-minimum-wage/
 

Miguelito

Council Member
Well, it is Economic 101 when the cost of doing business is increased the business must find an offset

In Seattle, costs are going up, workers are losing their jobs or seeing their work hours decreased

Oh well, when you vote blue you usually get screwed
 

Craig

Senator
Supporting Member
Well, it is Economic 101 when the cost of doing business is increased the business must find an offset

In Seattle, costs are going up, workers are losing their jobs or seeing their work hours decreased

Oh well, when you vote blue you usually get screwed
The article I posted debunks every word of your post...The article you posted is false. The wage increase had not yet even happened when it was written. Have you own philosophy...not your own facts.

However, Sara Jones, author of the story, acknowledges that not a single restaurateur she spoke to gave the wage increase as a reason for his or her restaurant being closed.

In fact, contrary to what right wing sites would have you believe, the space occupied by Grub will not be left vacant. Fillingim introduces the new restaurant, Bounty Kitchen, that will take over from Grub, and its owner, in the same Facebook post...
 

Miguelito

Council Member
The article I posted debunks every word of your post...The article you posted is false. The wage increase had not yet even happened when it was written. Have you own philosophy...not your own facts.

However, Sara Jones, author of the story, acknowledges that not a single restaurateur she spoke to gave the wage increase as a reason for his or her restaurant being closed.

In fact, contrary to what right wing sites would have you believe, the space occupied by Grub will not be left vacant. Fillingim introduces the new restaurant, Bounty Kitchen, that will take over from Grub, and its owner, in the same Facebook post...
Maybe she should speak to those who closed up and said the hell with it
 

Craig

Senator
Supporting Member
Another closure...and two more openings, and an expansion...about the "closure" of Boat Street Cafe...

...Boat Street Kitchen, the neighboring brunch and catering company run by original owner Susan Kaplan, will expand into the cafe's space and continue with her lunch, brunch, private events, catering and cooking classes, as well as Sunday and Monday night dinners...

...Though Boat Street’s closure is tough to take, Erickson is taking chef Jay Guerrero straight from its kitchen to her next spot, so his lovely food will carry on. Guerrero formerly earned his scars and stripes as sous chef at Prune, in New York.

Erickson tells us she has no plans to relocate Boat Street to a third location. She’ll be focusing her attention on her existing restaurants, The Walrus and the Carpenter and The Whale Wins, as well as her Sea Creatures company’s upcoming pair of projects on Capitol Hill.


http://seattle.eater.com/2015/2/24/8105201/boat-street-cafe-serving-its-last-meal-may-30
 

fairsheet

Senator
This story hints at the infamous "Al Gore says he discovered Love Canal" story. Of course as we all (should) know, Gore said no such thing. But, that didn't keep Judith Miller (remember her?) from lying about it in a newspaper story. When ALL the witnesses to what Gore said, called her out as a liar, she essentially said that "it was her story and she was sticking to it".
Same thing happened with the Seattle Restaurant story. Some insignificant local redwing source published the story. The national redkookian media gobbled it up like putrid meat and ran with it. Even after EVERY cited restaurateur said unequivocally that the whole thing was a baldfaced lie, a lot of that media had fallen so in love with the story, it refused to let loose of it!
By the way...a coupla things on background...the new higher minimum wage doesn't take effect for months and it phases in at considerably less than $15. So, the "idea" that a bidness would pre-emptively shutdown?...doesn't make sense. Also......during the period of time in question and in the average Seattle year, MORE restaurants close than this!
 
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