Minimum mentions

What the articles didn’t say

How’s that $18 Big Mac meal looking now? It may be too soon to say that Americans are giving up on fast food. (Way too soon.) But the biggest, fastest chains aren’t raking in the money like they used to:

This week, earnings reports came out for some fast-food companies. Several of the big ones disappointed shareholders.

Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, McDonald’s: All were featured. They aren’t losing money. But they aren’t making it like in the past. The press said Taco Bell’s sales grew 3 percent in the fourth quarter last year, down steeply from the 11 percent growth it had in the same quarter the year before.

CNN did a whole feature on Mickey D’s. Many McDonald’s restaurants are franchises and locally owned. That $18 Big Mac meal can be found in relatively affluent Darien, Conn., and doesn’t cost that much around here. But it made social media, and how. Also, you can find $3 hash browns in some stores. And medium fries that cost as much as a Filet-O-Fish.

McDonald’s also reported weaker-than-expected sales.

The reporters found several reasons. While grocery prices for food prepared at home rose 1.3 percent in 2023, the price of dining out jumped 5.2 percent. A McDonald’s suit told CNN people making less than $45,000 are eating at his restaurants less frequently. Somebody even mentioned that the war in the Middle East could be keeping overseas American chains from selling as many burgers, pizzas and tacos.

Perhaps.

But we saw no mention—in any of these stories—about the recent hikes in the minimum wages in the United States. Which one would think is a major cause of price hikes at fast-food joints.

Remember when the effort to get minimum wage to $15 was all the rage? This coming April, in California, the minimum wage for restaurants with at least 60 locations nationwide (the big chains) will go to $20. California law says that will soon go to $25. Fast-food chains have told the public to get ready for big changes on prices—because with these kinds of wages, there is no other way around it.

Well, maybe one way around it: The restaurants can employ fewer people. Which will lead to longer lines and longer waits for “fast” food. And maybe a decline in quality and accuracy. Not to mention a decline in the number of people with jobs.

Like Dr. Thomas Sowell once noted, the minimum wage is always zero.