A sign at a Papa John’s in 2021 advertises wages for new hires. (BusinessDen file)
When the clock strikes midnight on the cusp of the new year, Denver’s minimum wage will rise from $18.81 to $19.29.
That, according to a survey by the Colorado Restaurant Association, will cost the average Mile High restaurant an extra $70,000 next year.
“With costs continuing to skyrocket and dining on the decline, local restaurants aren’t earning enough to stay in business long term,” Nick Hoover, the state restaurant association’s director of government affairs, said in a statement.
“It’s death by a thousand costs right now,” he continued. “So we hope that our local and state elected officials will do everything they can to help restaurants in the new year, not hurt them.”
Though the increase — up 74% from 2019’s $11.10 an hour — is a challenge for some Denver eateries, the bigger problem relates to tipped workers, several restaurateurs have told BusinessDen. Their hourly minimum will be $16.27 with the $3.02 “tip credit,” as it is commonly called. For comparison, the federal minimum wage for tipped workers is $2.13.
That, restaurateurs argue, creates a disparity between front- and back-of-house workers, because the latter group is not eligible for tips, and servers’ tips generally far exceed the tip credit. Some spots have implemented a blanket service charge, since money from that can be distributed to all staff.
Denver established a local minimum wage in 2020, gradually increasing it from $11.10 per hour to $15.87 by 2022 to better reflect the local cost of living. Since then, the number has been adjusted each year based on a variant of the Consumer Price Index, a commonly used measure of inflation.
Denver’s minimum wage is one of the highest in the country, topping major cities including New York City ($17 as of Jan. 1), Los Angeles ($17.87) and San Francisco ($19.18). It trails Seattle, which will increase its hourly minimum to $21.30 next year.
Those rising labor costs, among other things, have led to a decline in restaurants in Denver. The city’s Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, formerly Excise and Licenses, reported that retail food establishment licenses have declined 21% since July 2023. At the end of November, it reported a net loss of 506 licenses, according to the CRA.
A sign at a Papa John’s in 2021 advertises wages for new hires. (BusinessDen file)
When the clock strikes midnight on the cusp of the new year, Denver’s minimum wage will rise from $18.81 to $19.29.
That, according to a survey by the Colorado Restaurant Association, will cost the average Mile High restaurant an extra $70,000 next year.
“With costs continuing to skyrocket and dining on the decline, local restaurants aren’t earning enough to stay in business long term,” Nick Hoover, the state restaurant association’s director of government affairs, said in a statement.
“It’s death by a thousand costs right now,” he continued. “So we hope that our local and state elected officials will do everything they can to help restaurants in the new year, not hurt them.”
Though the increase — up 74% from 2019’s $11.10 an hour — is a challenge for some Denver eateries, the bigger problem relates to tipped workers, several restaurateurs have told BusinessDen. Their hourly minimum will be $16.27 with the $3.02 “tip credit,” as it is commonly called. For comparison, the federal minimum wage for tipped workers is $2.13.
That, restaurateurs argue, creates a disparity between front- and back-of-house workers, because the latter group is not eligible for tips, and servers’ tips generally far exceed the tip credit. Some spots have implemented a blanket service charge, since money from that can be distributed to all staff.
Denver established a local minimum wage in 2020, gradually increasing it from $11.10 per hour to $15.87 by 2022 to better reflect the local cost of living. Since then, the number has been adjusted each year based on a variant of the Consumer Price Index, a commonly used measure of inflation.
Denver’s minimum wage is one of the highest in the country, topping major cities including New York City ($17 as of Jan. 1), Los Angeles ($17.87) and San Francisco ($19.18). It trails Seattle, which will increase its hourly minimum to $21.30 next year.
Those rising labor costs, among other things, have led to a decline in restaurants in Denver. The city’s Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, formerly Excise and Licenses, reported that retail food establishment licenses have declined 21% since July 2023. At the end of November, it reported a net loss of 506 licenses, according to the CRA.
