The Blubber

California fast food restaurants have cut nearly 10,000 jobs due to the state’s new $20 minimum wage, as struggling franchises slash labor costs and raise prices to survive, a major trade group said Thursday.

The California Business and Industrial Alliance (CABIA) criticized Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom for implementing the law, which went into effect on April 1. The law was blamed for the recent closure of 48 locations of a beloved taco chain in the state.

“California businesses have been under total attack for years,” CABIA president and founder Tom Manzo told Fox Business.

“This is just another law that puts businesses in further jeopardy.”

Several major chains, including McDonald’s, Burger King, and low-cost favorite In-N-Out Burger, have raised prices to cope with the higher wages. Many have had to cut employee hours and accelerate a move to automation.

Manzo said nearly 10,000 jobs have been cut across fast food restaurants since Newsom signed California Assembly Bill 1287 into law last year. He added that officials were living in a “fantasyland” if they thought that drastic wage increases would help workers or businesses.

“You can only raise prices so much,” he said. “And you’re seeing it. People are not going to pay $20 for a Big Mac. It’s not going to happen.”

CABIA placed a full-page ad in Thursday’s USA Today, which included mock “obituaries” of popular fast food brands.

Rubio’s California Grill, known for its fish tacos, closed 48 of its nearly 134 locations at the end of May, becoming the first major chain to fall victim to the new law. The San Diego-based company cited the “rising cost of doing business” in the state for the closures. The chain filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday.

Another fast food restaurant, Fosters Freeze, recently closed a location near Fresno, with the franchise owner saying they could no longer afford to pay workers the upgraded salaries.