I have a couple of anecdotes here. I was paid $3/hour when the state's minimum wage was around $8/hour (NC, 2010 or so) and the employer did make up those hours

I have a couple of anecdotes here. I was paid $3/hour when the state's minimum wage was around $8/hour (NC, 2010 or so) and the employer did make up those hours where it was < $8/hour with tips, although that was exceedingly rare (generally why front-facing food service workers don't like opening shifts). Many of my friends now are restaurant workers and all of them are paid state minimum wage. I don't know if it's just California that doesn't allow wages below minimum even for tipped employees, but it was interesting to see the difference because it's a real boon to their pay. If it had been like that when I was in food service, I would've made $5/hour more which is not insignificant at those levels.