By Christine Temple
Springfield Business Journal, July 22, 2019
Supporting the statewide minimum wage hike last November was a no-brainer for Bambino’s Cafe and B2 Cafe co-owner Andy Faucett.
“It was a very popular issue with the people who work at Bambino’s and the people who support Bambino’s,” he said. “I feel like you’re kind of putting money in the pocket of people who spend money.”
Faucett was one of 700 business owners across the state – 110 in the Springfield area – who signed on to join the Missouri Business for a Fair Minimum Wage coalition. ...
Most of Faucett’s roughly 60 employees already were earning $10-$12 an hour, higher than the state’s previous $7.85 hourly minimum. But the minimum wage statute requires tipped employees to earn at least 50% of the minimum wage in base pay, which resulted in a bump of 40 cents an hour for all the cafe servers. Faucett said the move is expected to increase payroll costs by roughly 5% this year. ...
Before wages were driven up by legislation, he said a tight labor market the last three years and the success of his eateries – on track for $2.4 million in revenue this year – already was dictating pay. ...
“I started to look at payroll as less of an expense and more of an investment,” he said. ...