By The Canadian Press and CHED

Alberta Restaurants confirm cuts to hours and staff due to minimum wage hike

Oct 5, 2016 | 1:12 PM

EDMONTON –  Restaurant owners and operators in Alberta say they will have to cut hours or lay people off to cope with a higher minimum wage.

Mark von Schellwitz, vice-president of the Western Canada region of Restaurants Canada, says 78 per cent of operators have said they will cut hours, while nearly half will go through a round of layoffs.

Alberta’s minimum wage went up Saturday by one dollar to $12.20 an hour, and $1.50 for liquor servers, with the elimination of the liquor server wage.

Von Schellwitz says Alberta members recently participated in a workshop in Calgary to find ways to reduce labour costs. They looked at balancing what they pay between higher-paid front-of-house service staff and back-of-house kitchen staff who don’t earn gratuities through new service charge or self-service options.

He says 35 cents of every dollar by a restaurant earned goes to labour costs.

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