Local business owners and employees their views about the new minimum rage increase.

Greg Magnus, owner of Chubby’s Pizza, 215 Lincoln Ave., said he will increase prices on Chubby’s menu shortly.

He said the minimum wage raise will level out with the increase of other prices.

“I really don’t see this doing much change in anything. Yes you will be making a little more money but you will also be paying more,” he said.

In past years, Magnus said he has cut employee’s hours and worked more hours than usual to compensate for wage raises.

Alan Smith, pizza chef at Chubby’s Pizza said an extra 25 cents will help workers earning minimum wage.

“Any extra money in today’s economy definitely helps those on the lower end of the paying scale; it’s a little bit, but it definitely helps,” he said.

Smith said he feels the minimum wage raise was necessary since prices on other items have gone up as well.

“Prices continue to go up and that’s not going to change,” he said. “So yeah, I think it was absolutely necessary.”

Dan Reible, co-owner of Jackson Avenue Coffee, 708 Jackson Ave., said the wage raise is not a problem for him.

“I really don’t have much of a problem with it; 25 cents an hour within the number of hours that I pay employees is going to make some difference for me but not a big
difference,” he said.

Reible said he will not take any measures to compensate for the extra money he will be paying to employers, but in past years he has cut hours.

“What I have done is I tried to cut hours a little bit. I talked to my employees and most of them can handle two or three hours cut rather than cutting one person completely out,” he said.

Reible said most of his employees are high school and college students who do not necessarily need to work 40 hours per week.

Meghan Kuhn, a barista at Jackson Avenue Coffee, said the raise will benefit her but will be more difficult for her bosses to hire people.

“I think it’s great for me because I will make more money, but It’s harder for my boss to employ more people,” she said.

Kuhn said she is not familiar with wage increase effects because her parents pay for the majority of her expenses.

However, she said she still prefers the minimum wage to keep increasing to help people who are working for minimum wage for a living.

Therese Kincade, owner of What’s Cookin’, 409 7th St., said she also employs many college students who mostly work part time.

Kincade said she will not increase prices at her restaurant, but if needed, she would cut hours.

” I will cut hours, but I will never fire people,” she said.

Courtney Harper, dining room supervisor at What’s Cookin’, said the wage raise has not had an impact at the restaurant.

“It hasn’t really affected our prices or our employees; we are still happy with what we make,” she said.

Harper said the increase will not make much of a difference to her since a great part of her income consists of tips.

“It doesn’t really make a difference to me being a server,” she said. “Most of my income comes from tips my paycheck is like the end of the week bonus.”