A waffle shop in Seattle is being forced to close down over the city’s new $20 per hour minimum wage law, according to a new report by the New York Post.
The owner of Bebop Waffle Shop said she was forced to close after the city’s new $20.76 minimum wage law took effect on New Year’s Day.
Owner Corina Luckenbach told the Post:
“I’ve cried every day.”
Luckenbach, who founded Bebop over a decade ago after moving from New York to Seattle, said inflation-driven food costs and reduced foot traffic due to remote work had already strained her business. The minimum wage hike was the final blow.
“This is financially just not going to make sense anymore. Because, just for me, the increase would cost me $32,000 more a year,” she said.
Luckenbach, who named the cafe after her late dachshund, said she supports higher wages in theory but couldn’t sustain the increase. Previously, large Seattle employers had a $18.69 minimum wage, while smaller ones had to meet $20.28 through tips or benefits, the Post wrote.
Previously, small businesses could pay $17.25 per hour if tips or $2.19 in medical benefits met compensation thresholds. The new $20.76 law, $4 above Washington’s minimum wage, applies to all businesses and removes tip and benefit credits.
“The hardest thing” about closing is that it “takes away a safe space for people,” Luckenbach, who is gay, said. “The stories of like what it meant to people to come in and feel safe and to feel welcomed — I just, I didn’t know.”
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