Editorial: Restaurant blues

Three months doesn’t a trend make, but a slow-down in fast-food sales represents another setback for the weak Obama economy.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that visits to fast-casual restaurants declined in May for the first time in 12 years after flat growth in March and April. “That’s a red flag because it’s been an area of growth and it’s 80 percent of the industry,” an analyst told the newspaper.

One reason: Despite the proliferation of “value” menus at many fast-food stores, prices for most offerings have been climbing, leaving consumers to ponder other options such as dining at home. The higher prices stem primarily from “rising labor costs, including rising minimum wages in many cities,” the Journal reported.

That shouldn’t come as a surprise, except perhaps to the progressives insisting that doubling the wage floor — in other words, imposing wage mandates to outlaw millions of jobs — will be some sort of economic panacea and reduce “inequality.”

But not only will jacking up the minimum wage price out of the labor market many low-end earners — particularly young people trying to get a foot in the door — it will burden those same workers with higher consumer costs.

As more grandstanding politicians cave to Big Labor demands for a $15-an-hour minimum wage, small business owners, particularly in the restaurant industry, will have to evaluate their choices. Raising prices and more quickly integrating technology into the labor equation are sure to get a look.

One option that likely won’t be on the table: Providing more job opportunities for the very people that those agitating for a skyrocketing minimum wage claim they want to help.