After California’s contentious $20 minimum-wage mandate went into effect on April 1, several fast-food restaurant chains have increased menu prices by as much as 8% to offset financial consequences.
The price hikes were reported by Kalinowski Equity Research (KER), which compared menu prices at 25 individual restaurants for each chain along with specific menu items before and after the wage hike. According to the data, Wendy’s increased its prices by roughly 8% while Chipotle raised its prices by 7.5%. Chipotle raised the price of its chicken burrito by 8.3% and its steak burrito by 7%.
