Civic Skunkworks: Restaurant Owner Who Said “We Are…Certainly Not Opening Another Business In Our Beloved Seattle” Due To $15 Minimum Wage Is Opening Another Restaurant In His Beloved Seattle

Civic Skunkworks, 8/4/2015

Welcome to West Seattle, Mioposto! The local Italian restaurant chain is opening its third location in the Admiral District next Saturday—another sign of the Seattle restaurant scene’s increasing strength. Isn’t it hard to believe that just last year, local restaurant owners were complaining that moving toward a $15 minimum wage would kill the restaurant scene dead? Now that we’ve seen our first wage increase and restaurants keep opening, those prophecies of doom seem pretty silly. I bet those owners are feeling kinda dumb right around now.

Hey, wait a minute! Turns out, one of Mioposto’s owners was complaining about the minimum wage increase. Go figure! As Working Washington pointed out, Jeremy Hardy—who also owns Coastal Kitchen—told Eater Seattle last year that he’s “certainly not opening another business in our beloved Seattle” due to the minimum wage increase, and that he “falls somewhere between feeling sad and feeling betrayed that this grenade has been dropped on us.”