-- Alberta’s new minimum wage is hiking the cost for consumers to eat at local casual dining restaurants, owners report in a recent article by CBC News. The article notes that the challenge for restaurant owners to pay their servers the newly mandated wage is causing food prices to rise, an inflation-based lift that has also been reflected in Albertans’ credit and debit card spending rates over the past year as noted by financial giant Moneris. In order to compensate for the mandatory minimum wages, restaurants have reportedly been raising their prices between 2 and 6 percent through 2017, notes CBC News. However, patrons are not frequenting their favourite casual dining establishments any less than in 2016, since credit and debit card spending on restaurants has also increased 4.7 percent according to a recent report.
Red Deer casual dining restaurants like MR MIKES SteakhouseCasual Red Deer are among the few establishments holding out on raising their prices. According to a source familiar with the company, “MR MIKES Red Deer recognizes that the government has put in a long-term solution to support servers and bartenders in the province, and refuses to pass the burden of that fair wage along to its end-consumers”. By offering fair pricing from the outset for the superb quality of food and unique dining experiences offered, MR MIKES SteakhouseCasual Red Deer is one of the few casual dining establishments in Red Deer that have not lost profits nor customers with the wage hike.
While it is common for casual dining restaurants to occasionally raise menu prices to combat inflation, a hike in menu prices in response to mandated wages is a fairly new phenomenon, and it is clear that Red Deer’s casual dining restaurants are still adjusting to a different pricing structure. Businesses like MR MIKES SteakhouseCasual Red Deer are setting the bar high in terms of fair pricing and fair wages, and other restaurants in the area will have an uphill battle to catch up, not having had a strategic plan for this in place from the outset.
To learn more about casual dining in Red Deer and MR MIKES SteakhouseCasual Red Deer, please visit www.mrmikes.ca/locations/red-deer
Sources: CBC News,Ed. Journal
Release ID: 252902