Gavin Newsom’s Panera Bread minimum wage exemption reveals woke policy as fake

Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom fights for fast-food workers’ rights … unless their bosses donate big to his campaign, like billionaire Panera Bread franchise owner Greg Flynn. 

How else to explain the bizarre carveout in California’s $20-an-hour fast-food minimum wage, letting restaurants that bake and sell bread as a standalone item dodge the blow of this law?

The loophole stinks like a three-day-old Filet O’Fish. 

The sordid history: Newsom signed a similar fast-food wage-hike bill in 2022, though to $22. 

Flynn — the largest restaurant franchisee overall in the country and a major donor to Newsom — had publicly slammed the law; he reportedly lobbied Newsom’s team to reconsider classifying Panera as a fast-food chain at all. 

Instead, what he got was that shady “baked bread” exemption.

But court challenges left that law in legal limbo and the state passed a slightly watered-down version last year, set to go into effect in April, with the same “baked bread” carveout to save Flynn’s Bacon Turkey Bravos. 

That shows just how important this loophole (which left observers “scratching their head,” per industry experts) was to Newsom. 

The governor tried to explain it to the public as “part of the sausage making” on the bill, i.e., just the necessary give-and-take of politics in a democracy. 

Nothing to see here, folks!

That handwave is about as authentic as Taco Bell’s Mexican Pizza.

As a matter of policy, Flynn is 100% correct: Sky-high minimum wages at fast-food chains hurt consumers, franchise owners and entry-level job seekers. 

So no law of this kind should ever get passed.

But here Cali is, with one that shields Flynn and disadvantages his competitors. 

Count it as fresh proof that most woke political victories come with a fat, greasy side of insider favoritism.