KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri's minimum wage will increase from $12.30 to $13.75 an hour on January 1st. The wage increase is part of Proposition A, which Missouri voters approved in November.
Prop A also will increase the minimum wage in Missouri to $15 per hour in 2026 and allow employees one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked.
The minimum wage is top of mind for business owners and their managers in the Kansas City-area heading into 2025.
Among those business is the popular Lew's Grill and Bar in Waldo.
“We want the people that work for us to have a good quality of life,” General Manager George Clarke said. “Kind of the fine line we play is, you know, we want to pay our staff well, but we also don't want to make it so expensive that our customers get hit in the pocketbook.”
Clarke said they’re already paying employees above minimum wage.
For them, dealing with the increase means keeping up with rising prices without putting it all on their customers.
“I feel like I have peace of mind being able to care for my family,” Cassidy Caraway, Oddly Correct cafe manager in Kansas City, said. “Especially because we have children, just knowing that we'll always have food for them and I can show up to work and like, be paid something that is livable.”
Mike Schroeder, the owner of Oddly Correct, said his employees also are paid more than the minimum wage.
“We've also just seen a more stable workforce, a more stable crew where when they feel like they're supported and have what they need to take care of themselves,” Schroeder said.
For these businesses, it’s more than a wage to live on; it’s a work environment to live by.
It’s something employees also want to remember through the years.
Mike Zuk remembers how things used to be.
“When I mowed lawns in 1959 and 1960, I got 50 cents for a lawn,” Zuk said. “When I was a machinist apprentice (in the 60’s), I made 7.50 an hour.”
Zuk's a regular at Lew’s Grill and Bar.
With the minimim wage increase, he wants people to think beyond the number on the paycheck.
“It's not the minimum wage per se, but it's all the attendant costs that go with it that an employer has to pay,” he said.
