In January the minimum wage in California is going up another dollar an hour! In Arizona, the start of 2019 marks a fifty cent increase in minimum wage. The harsh reality is that when this happens everyone’s wages get impacted. If you plan to pay a dishwasher $11.00/hour which will most likely be $12.00/hour (because you can’t find anyone to do that job for minimum wage), then you’ll need to pay a basic prep cooks $14.00-16.00/hour! Everyone’s wages will need to go up. What’s a restaurant operator to do? They can’t just absorb the increase, but instead will have to pass it on to the customer by raising menu prices.
California Minimum Wage Across Cities and Towns 2018
| Year | 1-25 employees | 26+ employees |
| 2017 | $10.00 | $10.50 |
| 2018 | $10.50 | $11.00 |
| 2019 | $11.00 | $12.00 |
| 2020 | $12.00 | $13.00 |
Source: SwipeClock
Restaurant operators tend to get very nervous when they have to raise menu prices as it often leads to declining guest counts and consumers going to other restaurants to find a better value. How can a restaurant cope, let alone thrive in light of such challenges? Instead of blindly increasing menu prices, it is crucial a restaurant investigates other facets of their operation that are underperforming. Are you overstaffed? Is your menu too complicated? Is your kitchen optimized for cooking?
It’s not too early to get a head start to a profitable 2019. As efficiency experts, Synergy Restaurant Consultants can find real solutions through innovative menu and labor optimization strategies. Synergy provides Productivity Assessments to analyze staff levels, understand labor performance and implement best practices that optimize operations, slash labor costs and boost productivity.
For the last 30 years Synergy has helped hundreds of independent restaurant operators along with regional and national restaurant chains improve the productivity of their staff:
As the founding partner I promise you this: if you engage us for a Holistic Operations Assessment
- We will make you money
- We will save you money
- We will improve the overall financial performance of your business
- We will help you to improve the overall execution of your food, beverage and hospitality strategy
Dean Small