New year in Seattle means new minimum wage

Seattle minimum wage increase leads to business closure

While the minimum wage jump in Seattle is good news for workers, businesses are now evaluating what it means for them.

SEATTLE - On New Year’s Day, Seattle’s minimum wage is jumping up to more than $20 per hour, and for some local small business owners, that is too much of a change to keep their doors open.

On January 1, the minimum wage for every Seattle employee increases to $20.76. The change applies to all businesses, regardless of size.

Previously, if an employee earned at least $2.72 per hour in medical benefits or tips, a business could pay its workers $17.25 per hour.

"This is financially just not going to make sense anymore. Because, just for me, the increase would cost me $32,000 more dollars a year," said Corina Luckenbach.

For more than a decade, Luckenbach provided both breakfast and community to the people of the West Seattle neighborhood.

On Monday, Luckenbach closed the doors to her restaurant, Bebop Waffle Shop, for good.

"Especially after the election, I think the hardest thing for me to close has been taking away a safe place for people," she said. "The stories of what it meant to people to come in and feel safe and feel welcomed, I just didn’t know. I didn’t know how much I affected people, and it's been really beautiful and cool to find that out," she added.

Luckenbach tells FOX 13 Seattle she thinks employees deserve to be paid more; she just cannot afford to keep up with the change.

For businesses who provided tips, the change to the minimum wage was a 20% increase.

Seattle’s new minimum wage is also $4 more than the Washington State’s minimum wage requirement.