Obamacare and minimum wage hikes have been a disaster for small business.
Here’s another example of a profitable restaurant closing because of them in San Francisco via SFist.com:
But Semmelhack tells a story that’s now becoming all too familiar for restaurant owners — not only in San Francisco, however San Francisco stands apart for having the multiple burdens of a high minimum wage, high rents, and typically astronomical opening costs. Add to that the increased health care mandate for employers, and even a successful restaurant can see their profit margin shrink rapidly.
Semmelhack says that AQ had an 8.5% profit margin in 2012, with a total profit of $250,000, and that shrank to 1.5% in 2015, with a total profit of just $40,000. And clearly 2016 was no better.