- Fast-food workers in California will start making at least $20 an hour in April due to a compromise between the restaurant industry and labor groups.
- Both McDonald’s and Chipotle Mexican Grill said customers in California will pay more to offset the rise in labor costs as a result.
- McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said the minimum wage hike could help the burger chain gain market share in California in the long term.
McDonald’s
and Chipotle Mexican Grill
will raise their menu prices in California next year to offset the state’s minimum wage increase for fast-food workers, executives said as both chains announced quarterly earnings in recent days.
McDonald’s has not decided how much it will hike prices in California as workers’ wages rise to $20 an hour, CEO Chris Kempczinski said Monday. Chipotle expects it will raise prices by a “mid-to-high single-digit” percentage in the state, but has not made a “final decision,” its Chief Financial Officer Jack Hartung told analysts on the company’s conference call Thursday.