Where’s the beef?

California’s fast-food wage decree is like DoorDash, but for destruction.

It delivers shuttered restaurants, job losses and boarded-up storefronts –– at least in some swaths of the state.

The state’s $20 per hour wage law –– which applies to fast-food chains with more than 60 restaurants nationwide –– has devastated the fast-food landscape in parts of the Central Valley, insiders say.

In the Fresno area, at least 16 eateries have closed in the past year and a half, with franchise owners citing the wage law along with rising food, utility and insurance costs.

Gone in some locations are favorites like Carl’s Jr., Wendy’s, KFC and Jack in the Box.

This outcome was no less predictable than salt on french fries.

Rising costs, thin profit margins and cash-strapped consumers do not form a recipe for business longevity.

That’s doubly true in regions like Fresno, with one of the state’s highest concentrations of low-wage workers.

These patrons are especially sensitive to the price of a Frosty. And if consumers won’t eat at least part of restaurants’ rising costs, the books don’t tend to balance.

It all demonstrates the folly of one-size-fits-all mandates, imposed by the state, to serve political ends.

Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2024 signed AB 1228, which enacted the $20 wage floor, at the behest of the Service Employees International Union ––which spends tens of millions of dollars each election cycle and has enormous sway in Sacramento.

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Certainly, some workers have gained cash from the wage boost. Others work fewer hours, or have lost jobs.

Analysts disagree on the broader effects the law, given that some restaurants already paid the new minimum wage when it took effect, small chains are exempt, and some brands can better absorb higher labor costs than others.

True to form in California, while some consumers splurge on $12 water at Erewhon, others can’t or won’t pay 40 cents more for a daily Bacon Western Cheeseburger.

Predictably, it appears that fast-food restaurants have modestly raised prices, cut some workers’ hours and replaced some employees with automation.

The fast-food-joint collapse (in the Fresno area, anyway) also raises questions about affordability, political gluttony and the tough business climate in California.

When it comes to good policy in Sacramento, where, indeed, is the beef?