Florida’s minimum wage rising, but NWFL business owners warn of price hikes

PENSACOLA, Fla. — Florida’s minimum wage is going up. Voters approved Amendment 2 in 2020 when the state’s minimum wage was just $8.56 an hour.

The amendment raised the wage by a dollar each year until it reaches $15 an hour next year. WEAR News spoke with both business owners and employees about the increases. Both agreed that when paychecks rise, so does prices.

Starting Sept. 30, minimum wage workers will see an extra dollar an hour in their paychecks. But business owners say it’s a catch-22.

“We want all our employees to make a great living,” said Collier Merrill, a restaurant group owner. “But minimum wage, just the last four years, has gone up about $5.35.”

“So times five, we’re usually, it’s $3 million, $7,” he said. “We don’t make that kind of money. So obviously, we have to raise our prices.”

The minimum wage is increasing to $14 for non tipped workers and $10.98 for tipped employees.

Samantha Montgomery is a waitress at the Fish House restaurant. She’s happy to hear about the dollar increase, but knows there are some drawbacks.

“Definitely, I think it’s very, even though it’s going up, everything else is going up, so I think it all helps,” Montgomery said. “But it definitely shows.”

The owner of Cycle Joint, Bruce Camcho, says they’ve been paying $14 an hour for the past few years. But he says that still isn’t a livable wage.

“You can’t live on that,” Camcho said. “You couldn’t even, I don’t even know how you could hardly even pay rent in many places, or maybe even pay for food and that kind of thing.”

The minimum wage will increase one more time under the amendment, moving up to $15 in 2026.