[ChrisBland]

Correct - the fully baked cost of these employees is much higher than the extra $/hr increase. The bigger kicker is this location is fixed, they HAVE to pay their employees this amount. The consumer is NOT fixed and given an increase in prices, has the ability to conduct commerce in an area near Emeryville that was not impacted by the higher wages. So all things being equal, the same sandwich made a few miles away may be a few $ cheaper and for people on a limited budget, the consumer may make that choice. It is similar to when a city/county raise taxes within their limits on certain items, lets say cigarettes, then are surprised when instead of raising revenue, the amount of revenue overall collected falls after this increase. Consumers have the ability to purchase outside of the city's taxing authority when the marginal increase is more than the perceived cost to the consumer to travel to purchase them. This is basic econ 101, maybe 201. While these attempts are great, they fail to factor that in and should be coordinated at the state level to have any impact. Even with that, states deal with this all the time when people go across state lines to purchase booze, or leave high sales tax states when making large ticket purchases. It is no coincidence that just across the border from Illinois in Wisc/Indiana there are best buys / appliance stores that do huge volumes of business.