Guest Shahan Derian said he'd be exempt from the hike but complained it would hurt him anyway.

California is raising the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 an hour on April 1. Fox News host Neil Cavuto called it “an early April Fools joke” on restaurant owners, though he also said it's a “meritorious goal.”

Guest Shahan Derian, owner of Lee's Hoagie House is exempt “because it's meant for large institutions,” Cavuto explained. Even so, Derian complained it would hurt him.

"We have to keep up with the competition, we have to retain our employees so we have to offer more," Derian said. "We already pay them $20, we're going to go up to $22 to $25, almost. … The consumer will end up paying for it.”

Derian said he has started preparing for the hike by cutting down operation hours, that he and his son "come early, we leave late so we don't have pay more for the employees.”

“It's very unfortunate,” Derian added. “I'd like to keep my quality the same, I don't want to ruin it."

"You have delicious hoagies, I understand,” Cavuto said. “But they're going to have to go up in price to compensate for this, what do you do?"

Derian said he would try not to raise prices.

He said he wants to "retire and leave it to my son, but unfortunately, our governor doesn't think so."

"I will never sacrifice my quality for the price," Derian said. Then he continued to attack California's Governor Gavin Newsom. "Our governor, he just keeps raising, but I always say a politician, they don't own a business, they don't know what we go through."

"Do you ever think about moving, period?" Cavuto asked.

"Not really,” Derian replied. “I grew up in California, I think it's great, but we just need somebody who understands business more than our governor. I guess he doesn't have businesses or he doesn't help us at all. I don't know what happened to California, it wasn't like this when I grew up here."

Cavuto told him to "Hang in there." He called it "a very good meritorious goal" to raise the minimum wage, "but sometimes a lot of them get laid off more."

There are some pros and cons to raising the minimum wage to $20 an hour. The pros of the wage hike are luring "more workers into" the fast food industry, leading "to better customer service" a "positive impact on consumer spending and the economy" and "higher pay for many other jobs." None of that was mentioned.

You can watch it below, from the March 26, 2024 Your World.