La Belle Vie, the most important restaurant in Minneapolis, is closing. Last day: Oct. 24, one day shy of their 10-year anniversary at the current Minneapolis location…. [The] restaurant has been teetering ever since the state of Minnesota instituted higher minimum wages without a tipped employee credit. “We had to raise the minimum wage for all our tipped employees—bartenders, servers, wait assistants, food runners. … On their W-2, you’ve got people earning $25-$40 an hour, but I was required to raise their wages.” … And if he has been losing money since the new minimum wage, instituted in August, McKee believes the forthcoming package of new laws proposed by the City of Minneapolis, the Working Families Agenda, will make things far worse.
Business Profile
La Belle Vie
-Mpls. St. Paul Magazine (link)