Tilman J. Fertitta Quotes

One man's wage increase is another man's price increase.

My wife and I decided to try and kick start our kitchens to a $15 minimum wage for cooks. I've probably had to go through and raise every menu price now by 50 cents because it took away my profit. I just underestimated what it was going to cost.

If you go from $7 to $15 in a very short period of time, potentially that could have a negative effect on some economies because that is a very big jump. And you're saying to businesses that employ a large number of minimum wage workers, your payroll is basically going to double. That could have a negative impact. It would have to be studied.

If the price of a burger goes up 5 cents, and the minimum wage that you have received is going up from $7.25 to $15 an hour - and there have been a number of studies that document just how much the price of a burger might go up if you increase the minimum wage. You match the costs, and the benefits far outweigh the costs.

I do not support raising the minimum wage, and the reason is as follows. When the minimum wage is raised, workers are priced out of the market. That is the economic reality that seems, at least so far, to be missing from this discussion.

The value of the minimum wage shouldn't be eroded, and it has been.

The national minimum wage has not been increased in 9 years. By year's end, 21 States across America will have a minimum wage exceeding the Federal minimum wage.

On balance, I am a supporter of the minimum wage going up. We've got to be very careful what we wish for because some employers - and there could be a lot of them - will be scared away from hiring new people or creating incremental hours for part-time people as a result of that wage going up.

This is the middle-class equivalent of raising the minimum wage.

I've been very outspoken that the minimum wage needs to rise.

Minimum wage laws have never worked in terms of having the middle class attain more prosperity.

If the opponents of an increase in the minimum wage were correct, then every time you fly to Seattle, you've got to bring a bagged lunch because there shouldn't be any restaurants because they should have all have gone out of business as a result of raising the minimum wage.

I have serious concerns with the discussion around minimum wage because it drives up costs, and it could harm jobs.

Increasing minimum wage doesn't build a stronger economy.

Obviously, we want people to be paid a wage that could help make ends meet, but when you increase artificially the cost of labor to do a job, then oftentimes, those jobs will just go away.

I'm more concerned about maximum wages, not minimum wages.

Statistical studies are all over the lot about the pluses and minuses of raising the minimum wage.

The state of Alaska has a minimum wage which is higher than the federal level because our state leaders have made that determination.

No family gets rich from earning the minimum wage. In fact, the current minimum wage does not even lift a family out of poverty.

The minimum wage was due for an increase, but it was important that we offset its cost to small businesses.

Raising the minimum wage isn't just pro-worker; it's pro-economic growth.

At the current $5.15 an hour, the federal minimum wage has become a poverty wage. A full-time worker with one child lives below the official poverty line.

Today, the Federal minimum wage purchases less than it has at any point in the last 50 years. Let me repeat: The Federal minimum wage purchases less than it has at any point in the last 50 years.

We have to raise the minimum wage.

When I started in the business, the minimum wage was $1.25. I've seen an enormous number of wage increases. Basically, it applies evenly to everyone in the business.