After 20 years in business, the owner of the popular Louisa’s Café and Bakery says she was finally “crushed” by the increasing costs of doing business in Seattle.

Alcena Plum was forced to lay off her 20 employees, some of whom had worked at Louisa’s for 18 years or more, with just one day’s notice.  Plum says that while she doesn’t want to put the entire failure of her business on the city’s high minimum wage, “it was definitely a factor.”

Plum says Seattle’s wage law was hurting her bottom line, and her already struggling small business simply couldn’t withstand another wage hike.  Seattle’s $15 wage is being phased in over 5-7 years, with small employers like Louisa’s forced to pay every worker $13 in 2017.  Alternatively, small employers may pay a base salary of $11 per hour next year, but they must ensure every worker reaches the minimum compensation rate of $13 through tips and/or payments toward workers’ medical benefits plan.  Either way, those costs were simply too much for Plum’s small business.

“I had to cut back on labor and portions to balance out the costs. But we were still faced with having to raise prices to a level that the community couldn’t support.” 

And while Mayor Murray and the Seattle City Council believe that employers are oppressors who take advantage of their workers unless regulated by government, employees of Louisa’s showed their support and appreciation for their employer by volunteering to work for tips only on their last day.