A restaurant in Stillwater, Minn. has started charging patrons a 35 cent “minimum wage fee” now that the state has raised the minimum wage, according to the Star Tribune.
The wage jumped from $7.25 to $8 an hour on Aug. 1, and Oasis Cafe owner Craig Beemer said he needs the fee to offset the wage increase.
Beemer told the Start Tribune that it will cost him an extra $10,000 per year to pay his six servers a higher wage.
Some customers were upset by the fee, and few started organizing a boycott of the restaurant on Facebook.
Colin Orcutt, the restaurant’s manager, told the Star Tribune that he was “shocked” by the customer response to the fee.
“We’re all appalled at the response for just protecting his employees. We’re just doing what we have to do,” he said.
Blue Plate Co., which owns multiple restaurants in Minnesota, told the Tribune that it raised prices in its restaurants due to the wage increase and higher costs due to Obamacare.
A restaurant in Florida started charging customers an Obamacare surcharge to help pay for costs associated with Affordable Care Act compliance in February.
H/t Washington Post
