Buffalo Wild Wings CEO: Minimum Wage Increases are Bad News for Young Workers

By Published on October 30, 2015

What do policy issues like local governments raising the minimum wage and federal agencies threatening the franchise business model mean for people who will have to deal with their consequences? The Wall Street Journal asked Buffalo Wild Wings’ CEO Sally Smith about both [subscription required]. In short, neither will be good for workers or businesses.

Raising the Minimum Wage

Even though advocates downplay their negative effects, Smith said minimum wage increases play a big factor in where businesses decide to invest and expand [emphasis mine]:

WSJ: How are minimum-wage increases affecting the way you make business decisions?

MS. SMITH: You look at where you can afford to open restaurants. We have one restaurant in Seattle, and we probably won’t be expanding there. That’s true of San Francisco and Los Angeles, too. One of the unintended consequences of rising minimum wages is youth unemployment. Almost 40% of our team members are under age 21. When you start paying $15 an hour, are you going to take a chance on a 17-year-old who’s never had a job before when you can find someone with more experience?

 

Read the article “Buffalo Wild Wings CEO: Minimum Wage Increases are Bad News for Young Workers” on uschamber.com.

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