Business owner says 'we don’t have money' as NYC officials propose minimum wage hike: report

Business owners warned of dire consequences if New York City officials pass a $30 minimum wage hike in comments to the Wall Street Journal.

The city council in New York City may boost the minimum wage up to $30 and Mayor Zohran Mamdani signaled on the campaign trail that he could make it a reality.

"As much as I would like to pay $30, we don’t have money," Moe Chan, who has a coffee and tea company in Queens, told the Journal.

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"We feel like we’re at a tipping point with consumers," said Melissa Fleischut, president of the New York State Restaurant Association.

The mandate was a campaign pledge from Mamdani, who promoted a "$30 by ‘30" minimum wage message. 

"When working people have more money in their pocket, the overall economy thrives," Mamdani said last year. "Right now, if you are earning a minimum wage in the city, you simply cannot afford to continue calling it your home. We have to change that." 

Mamdani’s proposal would reportedly follow Los Angeles' model with an incremental increase to $30 in 2030, a local New York outlet reported.

Business owners on the West Coast shared similar sentiments, but some are actually having to deal with the mandate after local officials passed the law.

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A phased-in minimum wage hike in Los Angeles that will mandate up to $30 per hour for airport and hotel workers was signed into law last year by Mayor Karen Bass. It mandates that their hourly wage must be raised by $2.50 each year until they reach $30 in 2028. 

The Hotel Association of Los Angeles (HALA) recently commissioned a study that found hotels have eliminated or expect to eliminate 6% of positions, roughly 650 jobs, since the Hotel Worker Minimum Wage Ordinance took effect in September.

As business owners in New York brace for a similar fate as those in Los Angeles, Sean Hayden, who owns five restaurants that employ over 200 people, said the dream of opening a restaurant in the city wouldn’t be possible for aspiring restaurant owners, and he would have to cut staff under the wage hike.

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​​"It’s just going to get to the stage where a chef or a waitress or a bartender who has a dream of opening a restaurant — it’s just not possible," Hayden told the Wall Street Journal.

Hayden said the minimum wage should be $20 to $25 an hour. If the mandate goes anything beyond that, he would have to lay off a "dozen" servers while installing QR codes for diners to order on their phones. 

"You’re taking the whole dining, hospitality aspect of it out," he told the Journal.

Mamdani's office did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.