It’s time to have an honest conversation about restaurants in Washington right now.
To put it bluntly, we are drowning in a sea of policies with disastrous outcomes. Frankly, I’m not sure which is more concerning: the fact that restaurants are barely squeaking by, or the fact that no one seems to be listening. In the face of rising costs, the state is now considering adding a flat tax on all delivery services. With the costs of food, labor, and now delivery all on the rise, I don’t see how businesses like mine can expect to stay afloat.
New data from the Washington Hospitality Association shows just how precarious life is for restaurants right now: the average profit margin for a restaurant in Washington was just 1.5% in 2023, compared to 4% nationally. The cumulative impacts of policies designed to increase worker pay are, in fact, having the opposite effect…