Small Business Restaurants Succeed With One Fair Wage: A Connecticut & California Comparative Analysis

Small business restaurants in Connecticut are struggling to find staff in what is currently the worst staffing crisis in the industry’s history. Just over 150 small business restaurants in Connecticut have raised wages for tipped workers in order to recruit staff, and many of these restaurants have joined forces with workers calling for Connecticut lawmakers to pass legislation to end the subminimum wage for tipped workers at the state and county level.1This brief compares the experience of small business restaurants and minority and women-owned restaurant business enterprises (MWBE’s) in Connecticut, a subminimum wage state, and states that require all restaurants to pay One Fair Wage — a full minimum wage with tips on top.