California’s Fast Food Council has fallen dormant

Will fast-food workers get another wage hike next year? The Fast Food Council tasked with making that decision has gone quiet. | Photo: Shutterstock.

Remember California’s Fast Food Council?

That was the nine-member group created by the same legislation that raised the minimum wage in California for limited-service restaurant workers to $20 per hour in April last year.

Made up of a mix of worker and union representatives and employers (both franchisors and franchisees,) the council was tasked with setting workplace standards and wages for limited-service chain restaurants across the state.

Except this year, the full council never met. 

And no meeting has been scheduled, as of Thursday—despite a law requiring that the group meet no less than every six months.

Officials with California’s Department of Industrial Relations said last week that the group is awaiting the appointment of a new chair.

“The Council cannot meet without a designated chair to convene its meetings,” a spokesperson wrote in an email. “Once a chair is appointed, the Council will be able to resume its work and schedule meetings in accordance with statutory requirements.”

The council’s former chair, Nick Hardeman, stepped down in May after being appointed to California’s Housing Finance Agency’s board of directors.

Since then, the Fast Food Council has fallen dormant.

The year started with some activity. A planning subcommittee debated whether the $20 fast-food wage should see a cost-of-living increase this year. The council had the power to raise the wage annually up to $3.5%, to keep up with inflation.

In February, the council’s planning subcommittee voted to put the prospect of a cost-of-living increase of the minimum wage on the agenda for the next meeting, though it was to be an informational, discussion-only item, initially. No vote was planned.

But that meeting never took place this year, and it seems likely it will not happen until 2026.

The fast-food wage increase to $20 per hour had a huge impact on California’s restaurant industry, though the issue remains deeply political. Even still, the issue sparks opinion pieces calling for abolishing the “Soviet Fast Food Council,”  for example.

Workers and labor unions say the $20 per hour wage isn’t enough, especially as the cost of everything—from food and rent, to health care—has continued to climb. 

Employers, meanwhile, called the higher wage a job killer that has resulted in restaurant closures—especially as consumers increasingly look for value, prohibiting menu price hikes.

In the subcommittee meeting earlier this year, restaurant operators pleaded with the council to hold off on further cost-of-living increases, at least until the council could analyze the impact of the initial wage hike.

Meanwhile, the gap between the fast-food wage and the state’s broader minimum wage continues to narrow with a scheduled wage hike coming on Jan. 1, 2026.

Outside the limited-service industry, California’s minimum wage on Jan. 1, is scheduled to increase to $16.90 per hour, from the current $16.50, though many local jurisdictions have higher wage rates. In West Hollywood, an incorporated city within Los Angeles, the minimum wage will hit $20.25 per hour, for example, and the wage will top $19 per hour in Mountain View, Richmond and Sunnyvale.

 

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Lisa Jennings is a veteran restaurant industry reporter and editor who covers the fast-casual sector, independent restaurants and emerging chain concepts.

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