Lemoore Foster's Freeze shuts down as CA minimum wage rises

LEMOORE, Calif. (KFSN) -- Monday, as California's minimum wage for fast food workers rose to $20 an hour, the Foster's Freeze in Lemoore permanently closed.

The assistant general manager, Monica Navarro, told Action News it was because of the wage increase, saying the owner told her he could not afford the new salaries.

Some of the employees thought it was an April Fool's Day joke.

Economic experts have been predicting closures and layoffs in the months leading up to the hike.

"Most of the time, if not all of the time, the business owners have to pass those cost increase onto the consumer," said Rich Mostert, director of the Small Business Development Center at Clovis Community College.

"The owner had actually talked to us like he was preparing to pay us $20 an hour. Like it wasn't a possibility of us closing. He said, 'Alright, on the schedules, we're going to run smaller crews. We're going to do smaller shifts, but we'll be able to make it work. We're going to raise some prices but we're good," said Navarro.

That all changed Monday morning.

Action News called the owner to ask him about the closure. He has not responded yet.

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