Bennigan's CEO Paul Mangiamele stopped by Fox and Friends to warn of the pitfalls of President Obama’s newly announced minimum wage hike.
Call it a miracle story: Bennigans, a popular Irish dining establishment, was close to filing for bankruptcy just a few years ago before making a huge, surprise comeback. The restaurant now has 150 locations worldwide.
Mangiamele told viewers that Bennigans might be in need of another miracle, though, as the impact of President Obama’s new minimum wage hike is likely to cause considerable damage to businesses and threaten their future successes and expansion.
"It's another piece of adversity that all the owners and franchises have to face that is being compounded by the weather, by the commodity fluctuations, the minimum wage debate, and then Obamacare. So, when you add all those things in to an already fragile economy, it puts more pressure on those margins. I'm afraid that the more marginal operators will go out of business," Mangiamele warned.
Additionally, the minimum wage hike threatens 500,000 Americans trying to secure jobs, he cautioned.