Californias $20 wage disaster pushes over a dozen Fresno fast-food hotspots to vaporize

California’s controversial $20-an-hour fast-food minimum wage is taking another bite out of the restaurant industry, with at least 16 fast-food locations across the Fresno area shutting their doors since the start of 2025.The wave of closures has left vacant storefronts stretching across Fresno, Clovis, Hanford, Merced, Kerman and Visalia, as franchise owners warn the state’s soaring labor costs have become the latest blow to an industry already battling sky-high food, insurance and utility bills.Among the chains that have lost locations are KFC, Carl’s Jr., Five Guys, Wendy’s, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Jack in the Box.Restaurant operators say the rash of closures shows just how difficult it has become to keep fast-food restaurants afloat in California, where expenses continue to outpace sales.“Almost 80% are expecting costs across the board to go up — energy costs, insurance costs, labor costs, food costs,” Jot Condie, CEO of the California Restaurant Association told the Fresno Bee.At the same time, consumers worried about the economy are cutting back on restaurant spending, leaving operators squeezed by rising expenses and weaker demand.“In the industry that has roughly a 1 to 3% profit margin on average in California, there’s no room for error,” Condie said.Condie said California’s $20 fast-food wage has become one of the most “devastating” financial burdens facing qualifying restaurant operators.“When you talk to restaurant operators who have closed locations, they will always cite that,” he said.The $20 hourly wage took effect on April 1, 2024, after Gov.Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1228 into law.The law applies to fast-food restaurants that are part of chains with at least 60 locations nationwide.California’s statewide minimum wage is $16.90 per hour.The measure was approved by the California Legislature rather than California voters, meaning residents never cast ballots on the statewide wage mandate.For franchise own...