The other day I once again accompanied my sister Susan, seen in the photograph on the left, to one of her favorite spots for breakfast, which has a patio overlooking City Park here in Denver. I myself just have coffee, but Susan likes to order a traditional breakfast of 2 eggs, 2 strips of bacon, toast, and potatoes, at a cost of $15. The coffee is an additional $4, and so the total bill, including a coffee for me and the tip, was $30. If I had the same breakfast as Susan, the bill, with tip, would have been almost $50. For breakfast. Does this not seem a bit pricey to you, or what?
Granted, this breakfast place has a nice view of City Park from its patio, as seen in the photograph on the right, and people are often willing to pay more for this. And in fact, the minimum wage in Denver ($18.29 per hour for regular employees and $15.27 for tipped workers) has made keeping costs down hard these days in Denver. Piccolo, an Italian and Mexican restaurant that operated in Denver for 50 years, shut down last year mainly because they could no longer afford to pay the minimum wage. They used to hire kids going to school looking for extra money, but now had to pay what politicians determine to be a living wage. I understand the reasoning, but still, it is pricing small businesses out and driving customers away. In comparison, Maria's in downtown Stuart, Florida serves the same breakfast (less one egg) for $8.50. But since it is a long 3-day drive from Denver, going there for breakfast might not be cost effective.
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