The formidable regulation, which supporters hope to see replicated nationwide, has been characterised by opposing sides in stark phrases. To backers, it’s a step towards honest compensation for low-wage staff who confronted important threat in the course of the pandemic. To opponents, it’s a cataclysmic transfer that may elevate meals costs, result in job losses and power some franchisees to contemplate closing.

“Folks don’t perceive that when wages rise, so do the costs,” Mr. Bynum stated.

Mr. Bynum has, lately, raised costs to attempt to keep revenue margins — and every time, he stated, he has seen a drop in clients. That, in flip, pressured painful choices about slicing staffing and trimming hours.

The brand new minimal wage will add $3,000 to $4,000 to his month-to-month bills, he stated, and whereas he hopes to maintain all eight of his staff, he doesn’t know if he could make the numbers add up.

One worker, Josue Reyes, has labored on the restaurant on and off over the previous decade.

He works the night shift, typically taking the bus after which using his hybrid bike the remainder of the way in which to the restaurant. Mr. Reyes, 35, stated the constant pay raises by the years — he now makes $16 an hour — had helped him considerably. He places a lot of his paycheck towards helping his mom pay the hire at their trailer park and tries to save lots of the place he can.

Whereas one other pay enhance will assist him, Mr. Reyes, who has labored in quick meals for a lot of his life, stated he feared that earlier than lengthy, jobs would develop into extra aggressive and more durable to maintain.