Regarding Amendment 70: minimum wage legislation

By Henry Arcolesse
Ma Famiglia Restaurant
Special to the Herald Times
RBC | Well-intentioned legislators and uninformed voters have created, in my view, an unhealthy and unsustainable business environment. An increase to $15/hour minimum wage will undoubtedly force many small businesses to transform their business models drastically with the unfavorable consequences of vanishing customer service, adopting necessary service charges and finally closing their businesses.
You, the consumer, can only accept nominal price increases as long as service and quality continue. We the business owners must modify our operating model to reflect these extreme cost increases. The minimum wage in Colorado can only increase in the future. I believe the intention of the minimum wage was supposed to be an entry level wage and not a living wage to support an individual or family.
Economics 101 teaches us that as wages increase, employment decreases so we may be defeating the purpose of helping the general workforce. Competition and economies of scale should certainly create an environment to be more efficient with our operations. I believe the scale has begun to tip in the direction of inefficiencies of service, quality and pride of ownership.
We will continue to do our best to provide the necessary service and quality our business will dictate.
As individuals, we must be well-informed and knowledgeable about our choices and not directed blindly to a situation which may be detrimental to all.
We have a social responsibility to provide our staff with the best possible environment we can, at the same time creating value to everyone who visits our business. It becomes increasingly difficult to balance those commitments moving forward as unfavorable legislation and, in our opinion, unnecessary price and fee increases continue.
Thank you for your continued support. We welcome your comments and suggestions.