Nearly two weeks after Prop 206 passed some small businesses are raising their prices almost 20%.
"We increased our prices between 10% and 20%, averages 13% or 14%," said Rocco Digrazia, owner of Rocco's Little Chicago Pizzeria.
Digrazia says he had to cut his $0.50 wing night, a 17-year tradition. Now he is adding new incentives for customers to come in.
"It is stressful because a lot of employees don't understand not only are you paying them more, but you are paying more payroll taxes and stuff and it is a large increase to the bottom line," he said. "You have to find somewhere to make up for that."
"We have noticed that some of our customers have bought certain products from us for years are letting us know they are no longer going to be buying the quantities they are buying before," said Amanda Tobak, owner of ICA.
But Tobak is one of the few small business owners who haven't increased prices just yet.
"I just don't want to trigger more of a decrease in sales so I can't do that forever," said Tobak. "So February and March I will pan out if sales stay the same or if they decline and see what I can do."
She says she has heard small business owners cutting employees left and right, and restaurants increasing their prices across the board to make ends meet.
"It is really difficult to overnight absorb a 20-50% increase in labor," she explained. "A lot of us don't have those certain profits sitting there."
The minimum wage is $10 an hour, but by 2020 it will raise to $12.
