Bronx Alehouse owner James Langstine claims he already was paying the majority of his employees what is now the minimum wage of $15 an hour for businesses like his, even before it rose from $13 on Dec. 31. Langstine sees it as one way he can help offset the city’s high cost of living — and hold on to a skilled, experienced staff.
Mina Muñoz, bartender at the Bronx Alehouse in Kingsbridge, pours a drink. The cozy burger-and-brew spot had to comply with the state’s minimum wage hike that went into effect Dec. 31, requiring most businesses to now pay at least $15 an hour. But Alehouse owner James Langstine says it wasn’t a huge adjustment for him, since he already pay the majority of his employees that much.
The Bronx Alehouse — a comfortable Kingsbridge watering hole closing in on a decade in business — has adjusted just fine to a minimum wage increase that took effect Dec. 31, owner James Langstine said. To compensate for the hike — from $13 to $15 an hour — he’s tried to scale down costs of beer, liquor and food, sometimes buying in bulk, and looking for ways to save on energy.
Mina Muñoz, left, and Scarlett Nuñez serve up drinks at the Bronx Alehouse on West 238th Street. The establishment had to adjust to statewide minimum wage legislation that took effect Dec. 31, fattening paychecks for some of the state’s lowest paid laborers.
Chris Cordiano — tall and lean — glided across the North Riverdale Dunkin’ to grab customer orders during the afternoon rush. And he’s doing it probably a little less hungry than he was just a couple weeks before.
That’s because minimum wage employees are welcoming heftier paychecks, the latest in a series of increases thanks to legislation Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed as part of his 2016-17 state budget. The biggest increase this year — which actually took effect Dec. 31 — came in New York City, where employees working at companies with more than 10 employees, including fast-food establishments, are seeing their lowest legal pay jump by $2 to $15 an hour. Employees at smaller companies in the city, meanwhile, are getting a bump of $1.50, to $13.50 an hour.
In Westchester County and Long Island, rates are climbing from $11 to $12, while the rest of the state increases from $10.40 to $11.10.
And all of it is still well above the federally mandated rate of $7.25 — unchanged since 2009.
Wage boosts here have pushed New York into the thick of a movement to raise the minimum wage across the United States, according to the National Employment Law Project. In fact, the state is among seven others — Arizona, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri and Washington — phasing in minimum wage increases that eventually will climb to between $12 and $15 an hour, while 13 cities and counties were set to reach or exceed $15 by the start of the new year.
“I think it’s good for employees, bad for customers,” Cordiano said of his fatter paycheck, now that regulars have to shell out slightly more for coffee and doughnuts as he said Dunkin’ raised prices to compensate.
Still, along with more food, the wiry barista also is looking forward to going to the movies — a luxury he’ll probably splurge on occasionally now that he’s raking in more.
“Hopefully it all works out well, because I don’t want to see too many people complaining that prices are too high now,” Cordiano said.
Some — like for a small black coffee — actually are quite nominal, jumping just a few pennies. “But that’s for one item,” Cordiano said. “Imagine you’re getting five items. The change adds up,” like for dozens of doughnuts — whose price leapt a dime apiece.
Asif Khan, Cordiano’s colleague at the West 259th Street Dunkin’, is grateful he can now afford some necessities that may have been out of reach before his wage increased.
Nor does he think customers are all that irked about paying modestly more for a sugar-and-caffeine jolt.
Yet, minimum wage workers aren’t the only ones affected, as businesses small and large also have to contend with compensating for paying staff more.
In fact, Langstine claims he already paid the majority of his employees at least $15 an hour, even before the new minimum wage went into effect, meaning it wasn’t a huge hit for his West 238th Street establishment.
“For the last couple years, we’ve found ($15) was kind of the minimum where you could keep and retain a good, skilled staff anyway,” Langstine said. “Skilled people didn’t want to work for” less.
As far as curbing spending in other areas, it hasn’t been anything drastic, Langstine added. “There’s some little tweaks here and there,” including focusing more on managing cost of goods — beer, liquor, food, napkins — sometimes buying in bulk, as well as reining back energy costs where possible.
Hence, keeping the alehouse well-staffed means customers may eventually have to fork over a bit more for a brew, if spending less on ingredients and energy can’t make up the difference.
But that’s something Langstine claims he’s already used to, from minimum wage — which has risen annually since 2016 — to rent, which has gone up every year since the alehouse opened in 2009.
Eventually, the city’s $15 minimum wage could take effect statewide, according to published reports. And while some critics claim that could nudge small businesses to greatly `raise prices, slash staff or even shutter, none of that’s been the case at either the Bronx Alehouse or Dunkin’ — so far.
“You can’t live in this city on $12 an hour, anyway, so we don’t really have complaints about the law itself,” he said.