More than a year into its experiment, the city — where food service, including a diverse collection of independent restaurants, is the third-largest sector of the local economy — is still torn. Trupti Patel, a server, said she received death threats for vocally supporting the end of the tipped minimum wage, and is still harassed. Another server who voted for the change, Britt Lucas, said that even today, she’s not speaking to some people because they disagree on the issue.
It’s still unclear exactly how the restaurant business will fare as the city slowly raises the tipped wage to match the standard minimum wage by 2027. But after interviewing more than 25 owners, chefs, workers and diners, we can offer some takeaways on how the policy, known as Initiative 82, is working out so far:
The dining scene is not imploding.
The number of restaurants in Washington has actually grown — to 3,472 last year, from 3,307 in 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And new ones continue to open; according to Yelp, there were 283 openings in 2023, compared with 254 the previous year.
But many owners still fear that as the tipped wage rises, the added expense will drive them out of business. Rick Allison, who runs several restaurants in the district, Virginia and Maryland, said labor costs at his King Street Oyster Bar, in Washington, are up 12 percent from a year ago. He blames the initiative. Coming on top of rising rents and inflation, the impending wage increases are unsustainable, he said.
“People are going to close up,” he said, adding, “My next restaurant is in Virginia.”
Chris Kennedy, who co-owns the bar Reliable Tavern, sees the current challenges as short-term growing pains. “It will be a clunky few years in D.C., but we will find our way.”