‘I live paycheck to paycheck’: 23 Oregon Subway locations suddenly shut down, leaving 200 unemployed — are Americans chilling on fast food?

Bell told Fox 12 she has contacted the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) to help her pay her employees their owed salary. However, Kennedy says she reached out to BOLI, who told her it could take up to 100 days to process.

Fast food in hot water

Subway isn’t the only chain struggling these days. Red Lobster and Fosters Freeze have also shut locations in recent years.

And many chain restaurants with California locations are struggling to stay afloat in the wake of a recent minimum wage hike. This past April, the Golden State increased minimum wage for fast food workers from $16.21 per hour to $20 per hour — a 25% increase.

Several franchise owners recently spoke out about how they cut their employees’ hours and increased item prices to keep up with the increased minimum wage.

“We kind of just cut where we can,” said Lawrence Cheng, whose family owns seven Wendy’s locations south of L.A. “I schedule one less person, and then I come in for that time that I didn’t schedule and I work that hour.”

Some restaurant owners are actually seeing a benefit from increased wages, according to Joseph Bryant, executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union, which helped push forward the minimum wage hike in California.

“Multiple franchisees have also noted that the higher wage is already attracting better job candidates, thus reducing turnover,” Bryant told the Associated Press.