ACTION ALERT: Oppose the Costly Restaurant Ordinance (CRO) Protect Local Restaurants and Jobs

Los Angeles City Council is considering a Costly Restaurant Ordinance (CRO) that would impose yet another financial burden on local restaurants and small business owners.

Local restaurants are already struggling under California’s new $20/hour minimum wage for fast food workers amid other rising costs. And it’s not just the restaurants suffering – workers and consumers are feeling the widespread impacts, too. To offset costs of this 25% wage hike, local restaurants have been forced to increase food prices, lay off employees and cut hours.

In fact, since the passage of AB 1228 in September 2023:

• Food prices at California's limited-service restaurants have increased by 13.1%—outpacing the national average by nearly double.
• California’s fast food industry has lost 6,166 jobs (Sept 2023 – June 2024). During the same period the prior year before AB 1228, California’s fast food industry added 17,528 jobs—a staggering reversal (per Bureau of Labor Statistics).

We cannot afford another policy that drives up food prices, threatens jobs, and disproportionately impacts minority-owned businesses across Los Angeles. The CRO is unnecessary, duplicative, and harmful at a time when LA should be focusing on more pressing citywide challenges. California’s new Fast Food Council was specifically created to set workplace protections for fast food workers, making this ordinance redundant and a waste of limited city resources.