The answer is starting to come straight from the people who sign the paychecks and lock the doors at night. Restaurant owners are finally speaking openly about what has happened to their industry over the last several years, and the story they tell is not pretty.
In state after state, wage mandates and rising compliance costs are colliding with razor-thin margins. The result is now landing squarely on the dinner table of working families.
A $48 Meal Turns Into $62
Jeff Hoobler, owner of Steep Ravine Brewing Company in Highland Park, Illinois, offered a blunt illustration of the shift. Before COVID disruptions and a wave of state-level wage hikes, a family of four could eat at his establishment for about $48, not counting drinks, taxes, and tip.
Today, that same order runs roughly $62 before any extras.
That 29 percent jump did not happen because steak suddenly tastes better. Hoobler says labor expenses for certain roles have surged by as much as 50 percent after lawmakers pushed through higher minimum wage requirements. For years, he absorbed as much of the increase as possible. Eventually, he ran out of room.
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