Ivar's - Going above — way above — the minimum
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Bob Donegan is not going to leave anything to chance, especially not something as important as a minimum wage experiment. The president of Ivars has been checking in every day at the companys Salmon House on Lake Union to see how the wage hike is working out.
Ivars raised all 130 employees wages to $15 an hour immediately April 1, instead of raising it gradually over a few years, as the new Seattle law allows.
It raised menu prices 21 percent 17 percent to make up for what used to be a tip and 4 percent because of the wage hikes. The company is also discouraging tipping from customers and is instead giving employees a percentage of the days sales on top of their hourly rate.
So far, the new strategy is going really well, Donegan said. Customer counts are up 38 percent from the first week of April last year, and revenue is up 50 percent due in part to the increase in menu prices.
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