Are Restaurants Ready for the Federal Minimum Wage Increase?

The federal minimum wage may soon be $15 an hour: Here are three ways restaurants can leverage tech to minimize the impact on revenue and employee retention.The U.S. federal minimum wage is expected to increase to $15 an hour which will put more pressure on businesses—especially in the hospitality & restaurant industries which employ 37 percent of workers who earned the federal minimum wage in 2019. The increase will likely be phased in over four years, but the impact will be immediate for restaurants which are already struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The problem is not about paying employees more, because the wage increase certainly helps employees to have a better life. Instead, it’s more about restaurant operations and figuring out how operators should manage the cost increase so they continue to earn profits. Many states have set their minimum wage higher than the current federal minimum wage, but 21 states still follow the current federal minimum wage ($7.25 an…