A hiring freeze will be on the menu for City Hall restaurant if the minimum wage goes up.
The owner and chef of the TriBeCa eatery, which regularly entertains financial and political power brokers, said that goes for all staff: waiters, cooks, busboys and hostesses.
“We believe in a fair wage, but we need to balance that with being able to stay in business,” said owner Henry Meer.
The Duane Street eatery employs 50 workers, some of whom could see their hours cut if wages go up.
“We were able to survive 9/11 without laying off any employees, and we were able to survive the economic slowdown without laying off any employees,” Meer said. “We hope we will survive this. But there definitely would be a hiring freeze.’’
Meer said he’s hoping to avoid drastic changes to staffing at the popular eatery, which opened in 1998.
He said he may have to reduce some of his workers’ hours from 40 to 38, “or not have as full a staff every day.”
“But that’s something we hopefully won’t have to do,’’ he said.