Back in early April 2015, a Seattle Times editorial writer suggested that one way we could look at the impact of $15 on Seattle was to look at the pho restaurants in the city. They implied that the immigrant communities would not be able to handle higher wages or higher prices. They suggested we “follow the pho.” So we did. Turns out that in less than a year since the minimum wage phase in began we are up +4. Oh, and workers throughout the entire city — including the people who work at pho shops — just saw another pay raise at the beginning of January btw.
Last April, a couple of weeks after the article came out, we went on to Yelp and did a search for pho in Seattle. We counted those places which were pho shops (rather than places that just had one pho dish on a fusion menu). We calculated the number at 62 pho establishments within city limits of Seattle.
We checked in at the end of the year. We used the same search parameters on Yelp and we saw an uptick in pho restaurants: New Leaf Bistro in West Seattle, Pho Special in South Seattle, Pho Country House in North Seattle, Seattle’s Best Pho & Deli in South Seattle, An Nam Pho in the University District, and Dong Thap Noodles in the International District. Even accounting for closures, Crazy Pho Cajun and Pho Viet Anh, Seattle now has 66 pho establishments. That’s a 6% increase in one year. Not too shabs.
An Nam Pho actually went into one of the previously closed pho shops, so there’s that.
It isn’t a surprise that with higher wages comes higher demand for products and services. It’s how we steam up the economy, from the bottom up. It’s like that old saying, more money in more pockets means more soup in more bowls.
So here’s the data. Since April 2015, when the first wage increase went into place until the end of last year, we saw a net gain of +4 pho locations. New Leaf Bistro opened in November 2015. Pho Special opened in December 2015. Pho Country House started in November 2015. Seattle’s Best Pho & Deli began in October 2015. Dong Thap Noodles got its start in October 2015. An Nam Pho opened in April 2015 - in a previously closed pho place. Crazy Pho Cajun and Pho Viet Anh closed.
April 2015 pho establishments
Pho Cyclo Cafe (4 locations), Tony's Teriyaki & Pho, Time 4 Pho, The Monkey Bridge, Thanh Vi, Teriyaki & Pho, Spice Orient, Pho Vietnam (2 locations), Pho Viet Anh (2 locations), Pho Viet, Pho Van, Pho Tran, Pho Thy Thy, Pho Thuy Hong, Pho Thien Phu, Pho Than Brothers (8 locations), Pho So 1, Pho Saigon, Pho My Chau Restaurant, Pho Mililani, PHO Lynna, Pho Le's, Pho Ld, Pho Hoa Restaurant, Pho Hiho, Pho Hai Yen, Pho Ha, Pho Fuchsia, Pho Downtown, Pho City, Pho Bo, Pho Binh, Pho Big Bowl, Pho Bac (3 locations), Pho Ba, Pho Aroma, Pho An, Pho & Bubble Tea Express, Phat Loi, Lucky's Pho, Long Provincial Vietnamese, Local Pho, Crazy Pho Cajun, Cafe Pho, Cafe Pho, Boi Pho Bistro, Ben Thanh Restaurant, Bamboo
End of 2015 pho establishments
Pho Cyclo Cafe (4 locations), Tony's Teriyaki & Pho, Time 4 Pho, The Monkey Bridge, Thanh Vi, Teriyaki & Pho, Spice Orient, Pho Vietnam (2 locations), Pho Viet Anh, Pho Viet, Pho Van, Pho Tran, Pho Thy Thy, Pho Thuy Hong, Pho Thien Phu, Pho Than Brothers (8 locations), Pho So 1, Pho Saigon, Pho My Chau Restaurant, Pho Mililani, PHO Lynna, Pho Le's, Pho Ld, Pho Hoa Restaurant, Pho Hiho, Pho Hai Yen, Pho Ha, Pho Fuchsia, Pho Downtown, Pho City, Pho Bo, Pho Binh, Pho Big Bowl, Pho Bac (3 locations), Pho Ba, Pho Aroma, Pho An, Pho & Bubble Tea Express, Phat Loi, Lucky's Pho, Long Provincial Vietnamese, Local Pho, Cafe Pho, Cafe Pho, Boi Pho Bistro, Ben Thanh Restaurant, Bamboo, An Nam Pho, Dong Thap Noodles, Seattle's Best Pho & Deli, Pho Country House, Pho Special, New Leaf Bistro