Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo Governor, State of New York The Capitol Albany, New York 12224 Dear Governor Cuomo, As the owners and operators of New York’s restaurants, we write to express critical concern with your decision to unfairly and arbitrarily target our businesses. New York’s 20,000 limited-service restaurants are economic drivers; creating jobs and state revenue in every community from Staten Island to Schenectady. Our restaurants provide opportunity to more than 280,000 New Yorkers of all backgrounds and skill levels, a large majority of which are those just entering the workforce. While the decision to raise the minimum wage for restaurant workers may be well intentioned, circumventing our duly elected representatives and unilaterally appointing a wage board without representation from anyone in our industry is misguided at best and suspicious at worst. We remain voiceless in this process as you have chosen to exclude the very industry you are targeting in your decision-making. As a governor who claims to want to attract and retain business to the state, your actions send a contradictory message to the rest of New York’s business community who should rightfully ask: “who’s next?” The independent owners and operators of New York’s fast food restaurants are small and mid-sized local businesses that serve our communities and provide opportunity for those who are willing to work hard. We are not the corporations whose names we bear but rather New Yorkers who work hard each and every day. We – the owners and operators of New York’s restaurants – are law-abiding, tax-paying residents who run our own businesses. We are deeply concerned with the way in which you plan to increase the minimum wage for a single segment of a lone industry throughout New York State. Your actions will unfairly target our businesses without any input from those whose very livelihoods you will adversely affect – many of whom will have to decide for themselves if this forces them out of business entirely. Restaurants operate on razor-thin margins. Labor is among the highest cost, and a dramatic wage increase such as the one you are proposing, cannot simply be passed off in menu price-hikes to the detriment of patrons – and ultimately our industry – as restaurant spending is highly discretionary. By singling out fast food restaurants while ignoring other industries that hire entry-level workers, you will put our businesses at a competitive disadvantage. In doing so, you will leave behind more than two million New Yorkers making the minimum wage in other industries. While you claim New York is “open for business,” fast food restaurants will be anything but. We will be forced to find ways to automate, rethink our hiring decisions, any plans for expansion, and – ultimately – our very future in the communities we serve. Other solutions, like increased access to education, skills training and development across our state, are much more effective in solving New York’s wage gap. If you are truly serious about addressing income inequality, we ask that you think carefully about your decisions which could hurt hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. Sit down with us, learn about our business models and see how restaurant owners and operators are employing New Yorkers across our state, fostering growth in each of our communities and providing training, upward mobility and opportunity to thousands of employees each day. Drastic wage increases are not the answer. They only hurt our ability to continue to foster growth, kill our competitiveness and our ability to create jobs in New York State. We would ask, Governor, that you sit down with us and negotiate the best ways to increase opportunity for everyone. At the very least, we would implore you to expand the makeup Wage Board to include at least one true representative of the fast food restaurant industry in order to allow for a more informed decision about the businesses you will severely and harmfully affect with the decision that remains yours – and yours alone. Plainly and simply – by forcing a wage increase on our businesses, you will put us out of business. Governor Cuomo, it’s time you hear our voice and help keep New York’s restaurants open for business. We look forward to hearing from your office. Thomas J. Clarke CPA Rao Tummala Burger King Dunkin Donuts Baskin Robbins Glen Head, NY Bronx, NY Manhattan, NY Amir Syed and Javaid Syed Syed Enterprises Inc. Jason J. Froccaro Multi-Unit Franchise Group Burger King Staten Island, NY Port Washington, NY Tom Spirro Gaspar Giordano Wendy’s Wendy’s Stony Brook, NY New York, NY Tom Cardarelli Lee Magnes Burger King Wendy’s Mount Kisco, NY Bronx, NY Laddi Singh Greg Dunn Burger King Wendy’s New Hyde Park, NY Airmont, NY Brad Honigfield Sarah and James Cammilleri Wendy’s Burger King New York, NY Victor, NY Sal Lorenzini Mark Bartlett Wendy’s Burger King Manlius, NY Syracuse, NY Dan Lorenzini Peter Souch Wendy’s Wendy’s Manlius, NY Watertown, NY Jay Della Monica Mitch Cohen Burger King Baskin Robbins/Dunkin’ Donuts Port Washington, NY East Meadow, NY Peg Caniff Seth Goldstein Burger King Baskin Robbins/Dunkin’ Donuts Westchester, NY Poquott, NY David Sutz, Giovanna Solimeo Burger King McDonald's Dutchess, NY Queens, NY Ramesh and Ranjana Jethwa Tony Liedtke Burger King McDonald’s (9 units) Spring Valley, NY West Islip, NY Bohemia, NY Roopali Jethwa North Lindenhurst, NY Jethwa Management, LLC South Lindenhurst, NY New York and Paterson, NJ North Babylon, NY Hicksville, NY Lou Meyer Syosset, NY The Briad Group Huntington, NY Wendy’s Long Beach, NY New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania Louis Buono, Jr. Stan Chin McDonald’s Wendy’s Rochester, NY (12 locations) Bronx, NY Nancy Wilkes Victoria Howard McDonald’s Wendy’s Rochester, NY (2 locations) Albany, NY Ontario, NY Williamson, NY Omar Londono Wolcott, NY Domino’s New York, NY Michael Sweeney McDonald’s Lynn and Peter Samaha Staten Island, NY (2 locations) McDonald’s Bronx, NY Bill & Elaine Diekmann Westchester, NY McDonald’s New York, NY Nellie and Herbert Thomas McDonald’s Kris and Dennis Sexton Rockland County, NY McDonald’s (6 units) Cortland, NY Lawrence Bennett Norwich, NY McDonald’s (6 units) West Windsor, NY Cornwall, NY Sidney, NY Middletown, NY Chester, NY Thomas Manikas Ellenville, NY McDonald’s Sloatsburg, NY Hornell, NY Newburgh, NY Richard Cisneros McDonald’s New York, NY (7 locations) Sandy Haefner Dave Opstad McDonald’s McDonald’s (5 Units) Lackawanna, NY Hyde Park, NY Cheektowaga, NY Highland, NY Depew, NY Poughkeepsie, NY West Seneca, NY Pleasant Valley, NY Lagrange, NY Paul Goodman McDonald’s Courtney Feehan New York, NY (7 locations) McDonald’s (3 Units) Ithaca, NY Roy Goodman Elmira, NY McDonald’s Horseheads, NY New York, NY (7 locations) Michael Schiappa Joe Ferrino Schiappa Restaurants McDonald’s Arby’s (5 units) Warsaw, NY Buffalo, NY Richard LaRose Sam Schiappa McDonald’s Arby’s (7 units) Brooklyn, NY Buffalo, NY Beth Dibble Carl Lofberg McDonald’s (6 Units) Arby's (5 Units) Owego, NY Watertown, NY Endicott, NY Endwell, NY Schuyler Lofberg Johnson City, NY Papa Johns Vestal, NY Rochester, NY Apalachin, NY Frank Mugnola Jonah Kaufman Arby’s (6 Units) McDonald’s Canandaigua, NY New York, NY Bath, NY Painted Post, NY Jack Bert Watkins Glen, NY McDonald’s Dansville, NY New York, NY Brighton, NY Dana & Chris Hutchinson Hutchinson Foods Arby's (3 stores) Jamestown, NY Hector Ureña Jr. Leopoldo Garden McDonald’s Burger King Rochester, NY Queens, NY Brooklyn, NY Paul Hendel McDonald’s Allen & Cort Norman Brooklyn, Queens and L.I., NY (18 McDonald’s locations) New York, NY Iris & Jacques Lawrence Michael Anderer McDonald’s McDonald’s Queens and Long Island, NY Mineola, NY Douglas F. Damiano Peter Castiglione McDonald’s McDonald’s Brooklyn, NY Long Island, NY Queens, NY Joe Gialil John Reeher McDonald’s McDonald’s Saratoga Springs, NY Albany, NY Johnstown, NY Maria Sullivan Gloversville, NY McDonald’s Amsterdam, NY Nassau & Queens, NY Cobleskill, NY Cooperstown, NY Peter Hunt Palatine Bridge, NY McDonald’s South Glens Falls, NY Long Island, NY (27 units) Richfield Springs, NY William Miller Roger Grout McDonald’s McDonald’s Whitestone, NY Clifton Park, NY Linda Dunham McDonald’s Patrice Magliocca New York, NY McDonald’s Catskill, NY Gerald Laurino Cairo, NY McDonald’s Coxsackie, NY Brooklyn and Queens, NY Malden, NY Christian C. Trefz Clark Brink McDonald’s McDonald’s Bronx, NY Albany, NY Paul D. Trefz Albert Cuadra McDonald’s McDonald’s Westchester, NY Brooklyn, NY Putnam, NY Dutchess Counties, NY Jamie Richardson White Castle Management Co. Luigi Solimeo McDonald’s Vito Atria Queens, NY IHOP Flushing, N.Y Jeffrey Lichtman Middletown, N.Y President Newburgh, N.Y. Odyssey Foods of New Jersey, Inc. Locations in Bronx, NY Nick Foster IHOP St. Mohegan Lake, NY Justin Mac Carthy Hartsdale, NY McDonald’s Rochester, NY Chris Foerster IHOP Dave Freiman Suffolk County, NY McDonald’s Niagara Falls, NY Scott Schrier Lockport, NY Areless Operating Corp. IHOP Perla L. Gonzalez Bronx, NY McDonald’s Buffalo, NY James Lewis McDonald’s (17 locations) Manhattan and Queens, NY Rich and Cathie Perna McDonald’s (7 locations) Bronx, NY Elmer and Sharon Potter McDonald’s (9 locations) Rochester, NY Robert Johnsen Kay Burger Management, LLC Burger King (5 units) New York, NY .