Read previewCalifornia is raising the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $20 an hour – and a much wider group of employees could see bigger paychecks. If limited-service restaurants raise their wages, "everybody is going to have to adopt because it's a free market," Danilo Gargiulo, a Bernstein analyst, said. Fast-food and fast-casual chains have already said they plan to raise their menu prices in California to offset the higher wages. The Cheesecake Factory's CFO Matt Clark told investors in November that the minimum wage could have a "ripple effect" beyond just limited-service restaurants. He added that the legislation would cause the price gap between limited- and full-service restaurants to narrow.

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Persons: —, Brian Vaccaro, Raymond James, It'll, Andy Barish, Danilo Gargiulo, Bernstein, Matt Clark, Clark, Vaccaro, Sharon Zackfia, William Blair, Greg Levin, we've, Levin, they're, Zackfia Organizations: Service, Business, Jefferies, US Bureau of Labor Statistics Locations: California, pretzels . California