Arby’s Roast Beef, a family-owned chain that has had a presence on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood for 55 years, is closing its doors, citing California’s recently enacted $20 an hour minimum wage law as its final “death knell.”
On Tuesday, the fast-food restaurant’s iconic cowboy hat sign was captured by FOX 11’s Sky Fox cameras and read, “Goodbye Hollywood. Thank you for 55 years.”
The restaurant, located near Bronson Avenue, closed on Saturday, according to local reports.
“Inflation has caused food costs to rise dramatically, and a $20 an hour minimum wage is a real drag,” said Gary Hash, general manager of Arby’s. He told the Los Angeles Times.
Hash is the son-in-law of 91-year-old Marilyn Leviton, who opened the Arby’s franchise at 5920 Sunset Boulevard in January 1969, six months before the moon landing.
But Arby’s employees who showed up to work on Friday were told they were being fired.
A handwritten “Closed” sign was in the window and the restaurant was covered in plywood.
“I’m very sorry that this has happened. I think we’ve done a good job for 55 years,” Leviton said. He told KTLA-TV.
It’s the latest restaurant to close since the state raised the minimum wage for fast food workers from $16 to $20 an hour on April 1.
Popular taco chain Rubio’s Coastal Grill closed dozens of locations across California earlier this month, citing rising costs of doing business in the state, and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection days later.
Another fast-food chain, Foster’s Freeze, recently closed one of its locations near Fresno because the franchise owner said he could no longer afford to pay employees higher wages.
Leviton’s Arby’s, which has the chain’s famous slogan “Leave the meat to us,” has struggled in recent years.
“I think it was the pandemic that doomed us,” she said.
“I really think we would have closed during the pandemic. [if it weren’t] It’s because of a federal loan.”
Hash added: “Many of the offices in the area are currently vacant and are not seeing the same foot traffic that they once did.”
Since the law went into effect, visits to chains like McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King have declined. According to analytics firm Placer.ai.
Popular chains such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Chipotle and Starbucks have also been forced to raise menu prices, with increases reaching as much as 8%.
In-N-Out Burger, one of California’s most beloved fast-food chains, has raised the price of its double-double burger combo in Los Angeles County to $11.44, 76 cents higher than last year.
The controversial new law requires fast-food managers to increase their salaries by 25 percent, from a minimum of $66,560 to $83,200 a year.
At popular chicken chain Raising Cane’s, a general manager in the state can earn a yearly salary of up to $174,000, with bonuses based on store sales and profits.
