Restaurant chain shuts down nearly 50 locations in California following minimum wage hike

[The Real timschochet 6,764]

Rubios quality is not much better than Taco Bell or Del Taco. But those two chains are drive thrus. Rubios is not. If you’re going to have to get out of your car to eat you expect a little higher quality. That’s Rubios main problem. 

Another issue: in addition to all the taquerias and Mexican restaurants I mentioned in my earlier post there is now an influx of taco trucks. Remember the conservative politician who warned us about “taco trucks on every corner” a few years back? In California it’s happened and it is AWESOME. For me and for most people I talk to the food at these trucks is tastier than most of the chain Mexican restaurants. It’s probably a lot greasier too but what the heck? 

[TheNewGirl 1,491]

I liked Rubios. They weren't terrible, but probably your slightly above average fast food chain. We had two near us, and we live in a more affluent suburb of a larger city/county, so I am not surprised. One was located in a shopping center where the rents are known to be astronomical; they've had other restaurants close there recently, too. 

 

 

[Alias Detective 1,401]

2 hours ago, BeachGuy23 said:

That's great.  You have that capability and likely a strong family support system.  As do I.

Many many folks are not so lucky, which I'm sure you agree.

And yes @RLLD has stated many many times ITT that the poor are at fault for being poor through their bad decisions. 

Id bet more than 50% of the poor are poor due to their own doings. 

[The Real timschochet 6,764]

4 minutes ago, TheNewGirl said:

I liked Rubios. They weren't terrible, but probably your slightly above average fast food chain. We had two near us, and we live in a more affluent suburb of a larger city/county, so I am not surprised. One was located in a shopping center where the rents are known to be astronomical; they've had other restaurants close there recently, too. 

 

 

As I wrote earlier their site selection was lazy and they were all too willing to pay enormous rents. Plus, as in your area, they overexpanded. It’s an old story. 

[TheNewGirl 1,491]

5 minutes ago, The Real timschochet said:

As I wrote earlier their site selection was lazy and they were all too willing to pay enormous rents. Plus, as in your area, they overexpanded. It’s an old story. 

I am not disagreeing with you or anything else in the thread, just bummed that something other than a drive thru is gone. 

I am not a fan of food trucks; despite people saying they are good or whatever. I am not a fan of wondering if I am going to get food poisoning from what I had for lunch. I refer to them as "roach coaches" for a reason. 

[Hardcore troubadour 15,433]

There was a power pop group out California in the 70’s called the Rubinoos. They had a minor hit “ I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend “ and they did the theme song for Revenge Of The Nerds. Also, hilarious seeing Mooney get on someone for trying to win a message board. Lack of self awareness often cracks me up. 

[The Real timschochet 6,764]

4 minutes ago, TheNewGirl said:

I am not disagreeing with you or anything else in the thread, just bummed that something other than a drive thru is gone. 

I am not a fan of food trucks; despite people saying they are good or whatever. I am not a fan of wondering if I am going to get food poisoning from what I had for lunch. I refer to them as "roach coaches" for a reason. 

You do know that they’re under the same health department regulations as other eating establishments, right? 
 

https://www.foodprotection.org/members/fpt-archive-articles/2015-09food-safety-risk-of-food-trucks-compared-with-restaurants/#:~:text=These results imply that general,sold in restaurants (41).

They’re perfectly safe. This isn’t Tijuana. 

[TheNewGirl 1,491]

2 minutes ago, The Real timschochet said:

You do know that they’re under the same health department regulations as other eating establishments, right? 
 

https://www.foodprotection.org/members/fpt-archive-articles/2015-09food-safety-risk-of-food-trucks-compared-with-restaurants/#:~:text=These results imply that general,sold in restaurants (41).

They’re perfectly safe. This isn’t Tijuana. 

Yes, I know this. I still won't eat at them. 

[EternalShinyAndChrome 4,106]

39 minutes ago, jerryskids said:

Bankruptcy implies that the company was already on less than ideal financial footing, so they were less able to absorb the wage hike.  

I mean, that's patently obvious and the only reason that is being ignored by our hard lefties is because they want to blame Trump.  Had there been no wage increase those locations still would have been open and all of those people would still have jobs.

[Strike 5,546]

36 minutes ago, Sean Mooney said:

FWIW-

As of 2022- there were about 773K workers in the fast food/counter service industry. Almost 79% of the employment are people between 16-29...About 300K in the 16-19 age range and then 20-24 is the next highest concentration and 25-29 is after that but about a third of the 20-24 age range workforce. 

So you are looking at about 38% of the workforce being a teen and then the remaining 62% are not. 

Additionally- to the discussion at hand earlier- 55% of the people working at a fast food place have either a college degree, or have done college work of some kind. 

Link?

[jerryskids 6,799]

3 hours ago, BeachGuy23 said:

Of course there's a tiny tiny % of jobs that pay better than minimum wage and require no skills.

Based on the US's median income of <$40k, do you believe there are lots of these positions?  Because $40k is less than $20 per hour.  And that's at the TOP range of this part of the median.

Quote

In 2023, the median annual wage for all U.S. workers was $48,060, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which means Americans in around half the states earned less than that benchmark, while workers in the other half earned more.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/14/median-annual-income-in-every-us-state.html

Facts, not feelz

[Engorgeous George 2,331]

49 minutes ago, jerryskids said:

I just gave you the definition of a starter job -- your first job, not intended to support a mortgage and a family.  Did you work to eat and live solely on your first job?  If so, I would venture to guess you were in the vast minority.  

The labor is not "exploited," comrade.  It is paid what it is worth.  Again, since you continue to ignore it, I'm talking about a starter job which is a HS kid flipping tortillas at Rubios... oops, no longer.

Question:  Do you think it makes sense to raise the minimum wage in the entire state?  Do you think a restaurant in, say, Beverly Hills could afford to pay more than a similar one in, say, Bakersfield or Fresno?

Mmm hmm...

So an informal local survey of wages in my particular area, Southeast of Denver.  While driving to and from the local rec center to work out I pass a few businesses.  The home Depot has a sign out front.  They are soliciting help at $18.50 to $22.50 to start.  The local kroger grocery affiliate, King Soopers also had a sign out seekingcashiers and stockers starting at $21.50 to $22.50.  The local backerry which delivers to all the groceries had a sign on their truck looking to train CDL route drivers starting at $25.00 per hour with a $10,000.00 bous after one year.  I would suggest that the market around me has determined taht they cannot attract employees at minimum wage and the market has compensated for it without any help from pandering legislators.

 

I also found the whole thing interesting in that the Denver area is inundated with illegals yet the job market wages fro incoming, inexpderienced workers has not been suppressed, yet, to the minimum wage.

 

BTW, on the earlier discussion I suggest that a diligent worker, reliable and motivated could perform any of these jobs more than adequately.

 

Oh, the local school has a sign out fro school bus drivers starting at $17.50.  I presume the job requires a CDL but don't know.

[Sean Mooney 1,983]

12 minutes ago, Strike said:

Link?

https://datausa.io/profile/soc/fast-food-and-counter-workers#:~:text=Employed people-,The workforce of Fast food and counter workers in 2022,29 years (79%2C170 people).

[Hardcore troubadour 15,433]

Nice to see Beachgay23 here taking time out of his busy corporate schedule to defend poor uneducated people, the ones he’s been degrading since he got here. 

[BeachGuy23 642]

15 minutes ago, jerryskids said:

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/14/median-annual-income-in-every-us-state.html

Facts, not feelz

Ah yes, the self proclaimed smartest guy on the forum, the multi-patented, singularly skilled master salesman and now Board fact checker has found a better source than mine and called it out.

Tell me boyo, since you're so smart and so uniquely able to discern complex issues, do you think that half of the country making $23.hour at the high end, and most lower, refutes the point I was trying to make?

I await the ruling from the self proclaimed, self aggrandizing Board fact checker with bated breath.

You must be a ton of fun at parties being so much smarter than everyone else.

 

[TimHauck 2,876]

1 hour ago, jerryskids said:

Bankruptcy implies that the company was already on less than ideal financial footing, so they were less able to absorb the wage hike.  

Yes, so like RealTim said, it can be argued that it’s not “the biggest reason” for the closings, but moreso maybe the straw that broke the camel’s back.  

[TheNewGirl 1,491]

1 minute ago, TimHauck said:

Yes, so like RealTim said, it can be argued that it’s not “the biggest reason” for the closings, but moreso maybe the straw that broke the camel’s back.  

This is what I think happened as well. 

They were already in trouble and then adding the wage hike just made it worse. Which, given the fallout from Covid and other restaurants and businesses, kind of makes sense. 

[EternalShinyAndChrome 4,106]

18 minutes ago, TimHauck said:

Yes, so like RealTim said, it can be argued that it’s not “the biggest reason” for the closings, but moreso maybe the straw that broke the camel’s back.  

 

16 minutes ago, TheNewGirl said:

This is what I think happened as well. 

They were already in trouble and then adding the wage hike just made it worse. Which, given the fallout from Covid and other restaurants and businesses, kind of makes sense. 

So the attempts to blame Trump or on it's bankruptcy fall flat on it's face and is 99% a direct result of the wage hike.  Had this not happened, they still may have continued on even in a bankruptcy.

[TimHauck 2,876]

2 minutes ago, EternalShinyAndChrome said:

 

So the attempts to blame Trump or on it's bankruptcy fall flat on it's face and is 99% a direct result of the wage hike.  Had this not happened, they still may have continued on even in a bankruptcy.

Not sure you understand what “direct result” means. HTH

[GutterBoy 2,899]

5 minutes ago, EternalShinyAndChrome said:

 

So the attempts to blame Trump or on it's bankruptcy fall flat on it's face and is 99% a direct result of the wage hike.  Had this not happened, they still may have continued on even in a bankruptcy.

They were in trouble before the rate hike, closed businesses before covid, declared bankruptcy during THE GREATEST ECONOMY THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN, PERHAPS EVER, and were probably gonna close anyway.

[EternalShinyAndChrome 4,106]

7 minutes ago, TimHauck said:

Not sure you understand what “direct result” means. HTH

 

3 minutes ago, GutterBoy said:

They were in trouble before the rate hike, closed businesses before covid, declared bankruptcy during THE GREATEST ECONOMY THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN, PERHAPS EVER, and were probably gonna close anyway.

"probably"?  Good guess but it's a direct result of the wage increase.  I know you all want to protect Newsome and the Democrats, but the evidence and data against you is too overwhelming.  The fact of the matter is these locations would have still been open and people still would have had jobs had the gubmint not interfered.  It's not even debatable at this point.

[TheNewGirl 1,491]

11 minutes ago, EternalShinyAndChrome said:

 

So the attempts to blame Trump or on it's bankruptcy fall flat on it's face and is 99% a direct result of the wage hike.  Had this not happened, they still may have continued on even in a bankruptcy.

I imagine the bankruptcy was possibly due to Covid and the Trump era closures or whatever you want to refer to them as. They filed for Chapter 11 twice in four years. 

They filed once in 2020 after closing about 12 stores due to pandemic, and then again just a few weeks ago after closing up to 50% of their stores; stating that it was due to an increase in wages (25% increase in wages for them). 

So you can blame it both on Trump/pandemic policies and minimum wage increases. Both appear to be true as there were two Chapter 11 filings. 

WALLAH. 

[EternalShinyAndChrome 4,106]

1 minute ago, TheNewGirl said:

I imagine the bankruptcy was possibly due to Covid and the Trump era closures or whatever you want to refer to them as. They filed for Chapter 11 twice in four years. 

They filed once in 2020 after closing about 12 stores due to pandemic, and then again just a few weeks ago after closing up to 50% of their stores; stating that it was due to an increase in wages (25% increase in wages for them). 

So you can blame it both on Trump/pandemic policies and minimum wage increases. Both appear to be true as there were two Chapter 11 filings. 

WALLAH. 

Fair enough, but I think the topic of conversation is more focused on the ones closed down a few weeks ago, which is way more indicative of the wage increase than the "OMG! TRUMP!" being bandied about.  The company, as you stated, even specified it as THE reason they were closing them.  Doesn't get more matter of fact than that, IMO.

[jerryskids 6,799]

36 minutes ago, TimHauck said:

Yes, so like RealTim said, it can be argued that it’s not “the biggest reason” for the closings, but moreso maybe the straw that broke the camel’s back.  

I can't say what was the biggest reason.  But yes, there appear to have been multiple factors.

[GutterBoy 2,899]

9 minutes ago, TheNewGirl said:

I imagine the bankruptcy was possibly due to Covid and the Trump era closures or whatever you want to refer to them as. They filed for Chapter 11 twice in four years. 

They filed once in 2020 after closing about 12 stores due to pandemic, and then again just a few weeks ago after closing up to 50% of their stores; stating that it was due to an increase in wages (25% increase in wages for them). 

So you can blame it both on Trump/pandemic policies and minimum wage increases. Both appear to be true as there were two Chapter 11 filings. 

WALLAH. 

More likely you can blame it on the fact that they suck and weren't doing good business.  It's not like 80% of stores closed or anything.  They probably made some bad choices.

[jerryskids 6,799]

55 minutes ago, BeachGuy23 said:

Ah yes, the self proclaimed smartest guy on the forum, the multi-patented, singularly skilled master salesman and now Board fact checker has found a better source than mine and called it out.

Tell me boyo, since you're so smart and so uniquely able to discern complex issues, do you think that half of the country making $23.hour at the high end, and most lower, refutes the point I was trying to make?

I await the ruling from the self proclaimed, self aggrandizing Board fact checker with bated breath.

You must be a ton of fun at parties being so much smarter than everyone else.

 

That's a lot of words to say thank you for my adding facts to your feelz.

Also I'm too busy at the moment.  Besides, it's fun watching @Engorgeous Georgebang his head against the wall with you.

[EternalShinyAndChrome 4,106]

7 minutes ago, GutterBoy said:

More likely you can blame it on the fact that they suck and weren't doing good business.  It's not like 80% of stores closed or anything.  They probably made some bad choices.

So, in summary: "I made up a different reason because I don't want to blame Newsome and the Democrats!".

The company LITERALLY specified the wage increase as THE reason they closed those stores.  You can't argue against facts, buddy. 

[GutterBoy 2,899]

4 minutes ago, EternalShinyAndChrome said:

So, in summary: "I made up a different reason because I don't want to blame Newsome and the Democrats!".

The company LITERALLY specified the wage increase as THE reason they closed those stores.  You can't argue against facts, buddy. 

They LITERALLY did not.  You're focking retard.  Just shut up already. 

[EternalShinyAndChrome 4,106]

34 minutes ago, GutterBoy said:

They LITERALLY did not.  You're focking retard.  Just shut up already. 

“The closings were brought about by the rising cost of doing business in California,...”

What do you think recently changed in the CA business climate, you dumb m'fer?   

[GutterBoy 2,899]

2 minutes ago, EternalShinyAndChrome said:

“The closings were brought about by the rising cost of doing business in California,...”

What do you think recently changed in the CA business climate, you dumb m'fer?   

Thank you for proving me right, they LITERALLY didn't mention the minimum wage.  Rising costs in California?  Insurance? Gas? Labor?  Taxes?  All kinds of rising costs.

Go away retard.

[The Real timschochet 6,764]

2 minutes ago, EternalShinyAndChrome said:

“The closings were brought about by the rising cost of doing business in California,...”

What do you think recently changed in the CA business climate, you dumb m'fer?   

As I mentioned the rent is too high in most of their locations. I’m betting they asked landlords for rent reductions and were refused. 

The minimum wage increase doesn’t help, but you’re trying to argue it’s the main reason and that’s not necessarily true. California is an expensive place to be. Regulations and government has something to do with that but the main reason is that we’re on the edge of the ocean with sunny weather and no room to build. So property values are high and that in turn makes everything else high. 

I know you want to treat this as “liberal policies bad, conservative polices good”. But it’s not nearly that simple, ever and certainly not in California. 

[torridjoe 48]

2 hours ago, Alias Detective said:

Id bet more than 50% of the poor are poor due to their own doings. 

You’d lose it. 

[torridjoe 48]

49 minutes ago, EternalShinyAndChrome said:

So, in summary: "I made up a different reason because I don't want to blame Newsome and the Democrats!".

The company LITERALLY specified the wage increase as THE reason they closed those stores.  You can't argue against facts, buddy. 

You’re such a fuckings idiot you believe cops and CEOs. 

[EternalShinyAndChrome 4,106]

6 minutes ago, torridjoe said:

You’re such a fuckings idiot you believe cops and CEOs. 

I'll take that as a compliment coming from a far-left radical such as yourself, Comrade! 

[seafoam1 3,025]

6 hours ago, Sean Mooney said:

You could've been an NBA point guard or physicist. You just didn't work hard enough to develop those skills

Wow. This is really stupid. 

[EternalShinyAndChrome 4,106]

7 minutes ago, torridjoe said:

You’re such a fuckings idiot you believe cops and CEOs. 

Pro-Tip: If you're going to call someone an idiot you should probably learn to how to use proper grammar and/or spelling in a sentence.  Just sayin'.  

[Alias Detective 1,401]

29 minutes ago, torridjoe said:

You’d lose it. 

Who are you?

[Mike Honcho 5,281]

6 hours ago, RLLD said:

We are not all equally allotted in terms of availability. I will never be an NBA point guard, nor a physicist. Some will....and its not unfair, they just have more gifts than I do....there is nothing "unfair" in that.

Now....I get that this concept is not resonating for you......but in this nation, you have the ability to rise out of your station into higher station, if you make good choices.

Inflation existed before Trump, and will exist after him, what is rare is the stupidity of someone like Biden to inflame it with poor decisions.

You seem to lack the cognitive ability to speak forthrightly about these concepts.

Not with that attitude. 

[RLLD 4,230]

1 minute ago, Mike Honcho said:

Not with that attitude. 

[jerryskids 6,799]

39 minutes ago, torridjoe said:

You’re such a fuckings idiot you believe cops and CEOs. 

I'm beginning to sense that you don't like police...