The reality of the situation is that waiting tables is generally not a minimum wage job in the US, because of tips. Sure, a restaurant might be required to make

The reality of the situation is that waiting tables is generally not a minimum wage job in the US, because of tips. Sure, a restaurant might be required to make up the difference between earned income and minimum wage on a slow day (although hearing from my server friends this may or may not happen), but the market wage for waiters can be 1.5-2x minimum wage in a low-end chain, and much higher at high-end restaurants. Service is thus explicitly not priced into the food, because the employer is not responsible for the true market wages of the employee.