Fast-food menu prices across California increase after new $20 minimum wage comes into law

Fast-food workers in California have received a pay increase.

A new law in the state that came into force on Monday, April 1, means that fast-food chains like Burger King, who have more than 60 national locations, have to pay staff a minimum of $20 an hour.

This is up from around $17.89 an hour, data from Glassdoor shows for California.

The new law will be widely welcomed by those who have received the salary increase, but the same can't be said for customers who are now having to pay more for their meals.

In the wake of the hike, the likes of Burger King, Hart House and In-N-Out Burger have increased their food prices to varying degrees.

According to New York Post, some of Burger King's items have increased in price by as much as nearly $4.

A Texas Double Whopper meal cost $15.09 on March 29, but surged to $16.89 on April 1, the news outlet reports.

Elsewhere, it's Big Fish Meal is said to have done up from $7.49 to $11.49. Yikes.

Meanwhile, Kevin Hart's fast-food chain Hart House has hiked the price of its milkshakes by $1. Other items, such as a large fries, have also gone up to $5.99 - up from $4.49.

Burgers at In-N-Out have only gone up 25 cents.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

Regarding McDonald's (the world's largest fast-food chain), the organization said that it's 'exploring several ways to counterbalance the increase in labor costs and is yet to decide how much it will raise the price of the menu items at its corporate-owned stores' following the new salary laws, as per Los Angeles Daily News.

It's expected that Jack in the Box will increase its prices by six to eight percent.

Elsewhere, Chipotle’s chief financial and administrative officer said back in February that the company only planned on imposing a 'mid-single-digit price increase' of food prices when the new law came into play.

The price hikes have been met with a mixed response from customers.

"To be honest, I don’t like it, because then everything else goes up," one Burger King customer told The Post.

CreditsL: Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Another person expressed concerns that its now consumers footing the bill for fast-food worker's better salaries, rather than the organizations they work for.

Someone penned on X: "Microeconomics tells me if the demand for fast-food market in California is inelastic, the majority of the increase in wage price will be passed to consumers, not producers."

But others weren't as bothered about the minor price tweaks and dubbed it a 'reasonable amount'.

"I would be more than happy to pay that price for someone working in fast-food especially California," said someone else on social media.

"Good for them making $20."