In reality the $20 jobs will fill first and remaining might have to take $12 jobs. No?
And Panera will become that place where you know the quality and staff are worse, in both the “get my order wrong” and “seem to have a drug problem” senses.
Panera will then have to pay above market to attract quality back when they’ve developed a toxic workplace culture. All while customers are shifting habits.
This strategy will result in many of them becoming unemployed. Although the idea that previously fine employees are suddenly unfit for work is weird and probably wrong, there is little question that there will be people working at Panera who literally can't get a job at higher wages. This place will be their only hope. Biting the invisible hand of the market that feeds them is a terrible plan, they're better off upskilling as best they can and trying to get a job at $20/hr somewhere else.
> Newsom’s legal team has concluded that would not apply to businesses, like many Panera locations, that mix dough at one location and then bake it at stores.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/29/gavin-newsom-fast-f...
(i) An establishment that on September 1, 2022, operates a bakery that produces for sale on the establishment’s premises bread as defined under Part 136 of Subchapter B of Chapter I of Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations shall not be considered a fast food restaurant, so long as it continues to operate such a bakery. This exemption applies only where the establishment produces for sale bread as a stand-alone menu item, and does not apply if the bread is available for sale solely as part of another menu item.
Say before the law came into effect there were 100 people, 100 jobs and the market rate of pay is $12/hr.
Now there going to be more people willing to take work (say, 110 people), probably less jobs - say 99 for the sake of argument and the market rate is set to $20/hr. Panera will still fill the same number of positions and likely pay a little less than $12 (maybe $10). They can also offer lower prices so they'll probably do roaring business and make more profit.
A carve out won't hurt Panera. It'll make them much more profitable.