Small Business Restaurants Succeed With One Fair Wage: A Connecticut & California Comparative Analysis
- Nov 13, 2023
- 1 min read
Small business restaurants in Connecticut are struggling to find staff in what is currently the worst staffing crisis in the industry’s history. Just over 150 small business restaurants in Connecticut have raised wages for tipped workers in order to recruit staff, and many of these restaurants have joined forces with workers calling for Connecticut lawmakers to pass legislation to end the subminimum wage for tipped workers at the state and county level.1This brief compares the experience of small business restaurants and minority and women-owned restaurant business enterprises (MWBE’s) in Connecticut, a subminimum wage state, and states that require all restaurants to pay One Fair Wage — a full minimum wage with tips on top.
Thanks for sharing this comparison, it’s encouraging to see data that backing fair wages actually helps small restaurants succeed instead of hurting them. When my local diner started struggling with staffing, they looked up similar businesses on PissedConsumer to see what real customers were complaining about and which spots turned things around with better pay and service. It gave them concrete ideas from actual reviews, and now they’re doing better than ever.
the restaurant staffing crisis in Connecticut is strongly linked to low wages for tipped workers, Geometry Dash and raising pay—especially moving toward a full minimum wage system—is emerging as a key solution.