With a looming minimum wage of $15 an hour on January 1st, kosher consumers and diners are preparing for the imminent rising prices.
The higher minimum wage is on top of sharp increases in many commodities such as oil and wheat which are also driving up prices.
Industry sources told Kosher Today that the new minimum wage will create a chain-reaction “that begins with manufacturers and passes through brokers and distributors and down to retailers.”
Kosher food prices have been slowly creeping up over the past few years even in stores that pride themselves as offering discounted lower prices.
Kosher supermarkets say that increased wages have dramatically increased their overhead which is expected to rise even further next month.
The implications of the rising employee wages will also be felt in kosher restaurants which will also have to comply with the new minimum wage.
Prices in kosher restaurants have also been slowly rising and come 2019 are expected to go even higher to the chagrin of many kosher diners.
Although some customers are negotiating the kosher food scene such as purchasing specials at Bingo in Boro Park, the prices are significantly higher than they were in 2015.
Please explain how increase in minimum wage is no excuse to raise prices?
If prices stay the same while expenses rise, obviously profits are lower, which makes talented capable people not interested in running a business which serves you. there will not be qualified and capable people running a proper business and will get you to complain again about something else.
Educate yourself before assuming there’s no reason to increase prices.
Example,
If it costs you $100 to get to work and you get paid $100 for the shift, would you still be willing to go to work?
Come to CA where kosher food is exorbitant and usually miles away. Solution. Except for basics, dairy and meat etc we buy more fruit and vegetables and no prepared foods. Healthier and cheaper. We both lost weight and feel great. Why support the kosher food industry that raises costs for no reason ? Minimum wage is no excuse for price gouging.
Raising minimum wage only raises the cost of living and the cost of living rising raises minimum wage ‘tis a vicious cycle.
I wonder what the solution is
Of course the costs of living must rise and then the minimum wage will be back to being too low to live on.
So then they protest for it to get higher then the cost of goods and services rise again in an endless cycle (or at least till everything is automated and no one has any jobs, anymore).
Hire fewer people, rely more on automation
Then NO more tipping in restaurants
Many companies already have replaced humans with machines and it will continue to rise. (Even banks).
it will lead to more automation and fewer people having a job
Groceries continue to go up in CH more so here than other places in Brooklyn because there is little to no competition. Shop in Boro Park if you can you will save money.
Please study economics. Profits are not guaranteed. Investors are willing to risk time and capital for the prospect of profits. If the profits go down, but the risk remains the same, then investments go down and the industry shrinks.
The groceries in CH have been going up non-stop. They slowly add on 5 cents and 10 cents per item and it never stops until one day you realize the same item you paid 5.99 for is now 8.99. Frozen fish rolls (all brands) went from 3.99 to 7.49 in a few years. So guess what. Don’t buy anymore!
All industries are doing this .. both in the frum belt and beyond could take less profit than trying to absorb the cost to the customers!
Won’t this affect everyone, foodwise or not?
I’ve already heard of women’s who were happily making $15/hr who are threatening a walkout unless they get a raise because now they will be making the same as totally unskilled workers.
I heard a rumor that a new kosher supermarket will be opening in Crown Heights