Seattle minimum wage hike forces queer waffle shop owner to shut down business: ‘I’ve cried every day’

A self-identified queer business owner in West Seattle says that she has to shut down her waffle shop because of a minimum wage hike in the far-left city.

Corina Luckenbach told KCPQ-TV that the wage hike on top of increasing costs from inflation spelled doom for Bebop Waffle Shop after being in business for more than a decade. Seattle raised minimum wage to $20.76 for all employees in the city regardless of the size of the business.

‘Especially after the election, I think the hardest thing for me to close has been taking away a safe place for people.’

“This is financially just not going to make sense anymore. Because, just for me, the increase would cost me 32,000 more dollars a year,” said Luckenbach. “I’ve cried every day.”

She says that she supports increased wages in theory but that the reality is too much for her business to bear.

“Especially after the election, I think the hardest thing for me to close has been taking away a safe place for people,” Luckenbach continued. “The stories of what it meant to people to come in and feel safe and feel welcomed, I just didn’t know. I didn’t know how much I affected people, and it’s been really beautiful and cool to find that out.”

Luckenbach said on her website that she is “queer” and named the waffle house after her dog that died in 2019.

A report about the waffle shop closure devolved in the comment section into a debate over whether calling the area “walkable” was ableist against those who were unable to walk.

Luckenbach’s interview with KCPQ can be viewed on the news report on YouTube.

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