Restaurateur tallies strikes against him

Daniel Scherotter of Palio d'Asti gets frank with San Francisco's progressive left (read: essentially the whole city) on Fog City Journal. Also vice president of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, Scherotter notes the forces driving up his costs:

• "Next year the minimum wage goes up to $9.14/hour"
• "add on the $1.06 or $1.60/hour for health care"
• "and the 9 paid sick days"
• "and the city payroll tax"

How to avoid "cutting cooks' pay or eliminating bussers?"

All the progressives I know tell me to raise my prices and that people will pay the slight increase, and these are the liberals!

Are prices on the rise? The picture is cloudy, at least compared with last year. What is clear is that prices are high -- right up there with New York, even though our expense accounts are much tighter -- and under pressure to rise further.

Here is what Zagat had to say in September about its most recent survey of San Francisco (emphasis added):

The average meal price is up only 1.2% this year from $35.52 to $35.96. However, inflation is 15% up among the 20 most expensive restaurants. (A large part of this is due to a major price increase at the French Laundry.) Overall, San Francisco is one of the most expensive restaurant cities in the country - trailing only New York City.

Perhaps that's why San Franciscans are not at the top of the tipping list. In fact, at 18.4%, quite the opposite is true - San Francisco is tied with Los Angeles as the lowest tipping city in the country, with Eastern cities such as Atlanta, Chicago, and Philadelphia tipping 19% or higher.