Fast food chains across California have increased menu prices as restaurants respond to the new $20-an-hour minimum wage that came into effect for workers on Monday.
Menu prices have soared at some chains, with some items increasing by as much as $2.
The New York Post checked menus at several restaurants in the Los Angeles area to compare the prices before and after the law came into effect.
However, the price hikes appear to show that the costs are already being passed onto consumers.
The biggest leap was at a Burger King, where a Texas Double Whopper meal cost $15.09 on March 29, but surged to $16.89 on April 1, a price whopping increase of $1.80 for the same meal.
The Big Fish meal also jumped from $7.49 on the menu before April 1 to $11.49 after — an increase of $4.
Most other items increased anywhere from 25 cents to a dollar.
Burger King was not alone, however.
At Hart House, a fast food chain founded by actor Kevin Hart, prices increased up to 25%.
Before the law was enacted, large fries cost $4.49.
On April 1, that price soared to $5.99.
Milkshakes of all sizes increased by $1.00, while most sandwiches went up by 50 cents each.
At a nearby In-N-Out Burger, the price hikes were more modest.
Burgers went up about 25 cents, while sodas increased by a nickel.
The price increase got mixed reviews from customers on Monday.
“It’s such a nominal increase,” says Shawn Fields, 40, who was buying lunch at In-N-Out.
“It seems like a reasonable amount.”
But not everyone agrees.
“To be honest, I don’t like it, because then everything else goes up,” Ivan Moreno, who was buying a meal at Burger King, told The Post.
“These people have to make a living one way or another, but then [the restaurants] have to up their prices.”
Other restaurants showed no change, including Chick-fil-A, Wendy’s and McDonald’s.
One McDonald’s franchisee, though, says he’s had no choice but to raise prices already.
“As a business owner, when you’re dealing with this kind of extraordinary overnight change, you know, a 25% increase in wages, (no) stone has to remain unturned,” Scott Rodrick, who owns 18 restaurants in Northern California, told CNN on Monday.
In the last three months, Rodrick has raised menu prices between 5% and 7% in anticipation of the new law going into effect.
Democrats in the state Legislature passed the law last year.
The law raises the wages of more than 500,000 people who work in fast food restaurants.
The previous minimum wage was $16 per hour.
The law applies to restaurants offering limited or no table service and which are part of a national chain with at least 60 establishments nationwide.
