Mark's Pizzeria in Skaneateles changes name to avoid minimum wage hike (report)

By Geoff Herbert of syracuse.com. Excerpt:

"Last year, there were more than 40 Mark's Pizzeria locations in Upstate New York. Today, there are exactly 29 -- a number aimed at avoiding the higher minimum wage.
The Auburn Citizen reports the Mark's Pizzeria in Skaneateles quietly changed its name to Mike's Pizzeria last month. Technically, it's a new business, but Mike Harvard and Jamie Schneider are still slinging pizzas in the same location they've co-owned since 2003.

Harvard told the publication that they reached a mutual agreement with Mark's Pizzeria Inc. to re-open as a separate business because of the state's rising minimum wage requirements. Fast food establishments, defined by the Department of Labor as a chain with 30 or more locations, must pay workers at least $15 an hour by the end of the year in New York City and by 2021 in the rest of the state.

Fast food wages in New York went up $1 to $11.75 on Dec. 31, but Mark's is avoiding that hike because it now has just 29 locations -- one less than the number that would define them as a fast food chain. Harvard told the Citizen that it will help keep prices from rising for customers."