TLDR; Making a stupidly high minimum wage fucks up everything and a bunch of businesses decided to just close rather than try to deal with it. From the post: >>Experts warned that hiking fast food wages to $20-an-hour in California would lead to job losses — and a year on the scale of cuts are becoming clear. Roughly 22,600 positions have been lost across chains like Pizza Hut and Burger King since the law took effect on April 1 last year. Many remaining staff have also seen their hours reduced. On top of that, restaurants are closing. Mexican chain Rubio's Coastal Grill, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed 48 locations in the state. It is cruel irony for workers and unions who fought for years for higher wages — a move critics warned could trigger job losses. The controversial wage hike — $4 more than the state's standard minimum — was introduced by Governor Gavin Newsom at chains with more than 60 locations in the US.