McDonald’s franchise owner Scott Rodrick says his company has experienced ‘cost pressure’ from California’s minimum wage increase targeting ‘Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street’ fast food franchises.
Bebop Waffle Shop closed its doors for good on Monday after a new increase in the minimum wage made operating costs unsustainable.
Corina Luckenbach, owner of a West Seattle waffle shop, complained she had no choice but to close her business when the city’s new minimum wage law went into effect Jan. 1, raising wages to $20.76 an hour.
“This was my dream. To own my own coffee shop, run it the way I want and really, like, serve people,” Luckenbach he told Fox 13, later noting that she “cried every day,” about its imminent closure due to a number of factors.
Luckenbach, who founded Bebop Waffle Shop more than 10 years ago after immigrating from New York, said her business was already struggling with high inflation and lower traffic due to the growing popularity of working from home.
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Waffle shop owner Corina Luckenbach lamented the closure of her business due to rising labor costs. (FOX 13 YouTube channel)
“This is just not going to make sense financially anymore. Because, just for me, the increase would cost me $32,000 more a year,” she told Fox 13.
According to New York Post“The new law at $20.76 an hour — which is $4 more than Washington state’s minimum wage requirement — applies to businesses large and small. It also eliminates credits for tips or benefits.”
A number of local businesses that once served as community gathering places have been forced to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout, and the Bebop Waffle Shop, named after the owner’s dog, appears to be no exception.
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Bebop Waffle Shop owner Corina Luckenbach attributed the closure of her business to an increase in the minimum wage and decreased traffic. (Fox 13 YouTube channel)
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Luckenbach discovered to the media that the “hardest” thing about closing a business is that it is ultimately “taking away a safe space for people”.
“The stories of what it meant to people to come and feel safe and welcome — I just didn’t know,” she said, crying.
As 2025 began, nearly half of the states in the US saw it increasing the minimum wage, which, according to the latest data, meant an increase in wages for about 9.2 million workers.
Raising Cane’s co-CEO AJ Kumaran discusses how California’s minimum wage increase has affected his company in ‘The Claman Countdown.’
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An Economic Policy Institute analysis says 21 states were set to raise their minimum wages in the first year, along with 48 cities and counties that raised their minimum wages above their state minimums — mostly in California, Colorado and Washington.
Fox Business’ Breck Dumas contributed to this report.
