Fears abound among restaurateurs and some workers in the industry that Question 5 would sharply reduce tips, increase employers’ labor costs and ultimately force restaurants to close. Donations to the “no” campaign by the Massachusetts Restaurant Association and individual restaurateurs have dwarfed financial contributions from the “yes” camp, and businesses from Northampton to the North End are urging restaurants to “Vote No!” It was filled with signs calling and drinking glasses.

As the election approached, the electorate appeared roughly divided. Half of the voters are October Globe/Suffolk poll While they said they planned to vote against Question 5, just under 40 percent voted in favor. Gov. Maura Healey and mayors of communities including Quincy, Northampton, New Bedford and Worcester called for a “no” vote.

MRA president Steve Clark said a higher minimum wage would only compound the woes facing the restaurant industry as it struggles to find its feet in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The size of the food industry in Massachusetts is still 12,000 jobs, or about 4 percent, below what it was in 2020, and 38 percent of restaurants lost money in 2024, according to an MRA study in October.

“The industry is on shaky ground,” Clark said. “It looks like we’re going to see more of the same over the next few months. … The decline in sales and profitability will persist until labor and food costs are brought back to a more manageable level.”

And Clark notes that state law currently requires restaurants to ensure employees are paid $15 per hour when tips don’t make the difference.

But supporters say ending subminimum wages, which have long remained below the minimum wage, is a small first step toward raising wage and labor standards in the restaurant industry. Complaints of wage theft are rampant, and the average tipped worker earns 35 percent less than the $31.50 per hour, the average wage paid for all workers statewide. Research from UMass Amherst. A disproportionate number of employees are people of color.

Liam Larson, landlord of a restaurant in Marlborough, said in August that raising the minimum wage to the statewide floor level would be an equalizing force for restaurant workers.

“Right now you’re starting in a hole and hoping the clues will save you,” he said. “The first nine dollars in tips you receive per hour only gets you into minimum wage. You’re losing, but it doesn’t feel like you’re going to lose even if you make $400 a night. When you finish with almost nothing, you forget about all the other days.

In the weeks leading up to Election Day, One Fair Wage alleged that restaurants were pressuring employees to support the “no” campaign and that Boston restaurateur Doug Bacon, who was among the most vocal opponents of the measure, was underpaying some employees.

A spokeswoman for Attorney General Andrea Campbell said the office sent Bacon “an advisory containing information about when employees must be compensated under Massachusetts law” in response to the employees’ complaint.

“There is wage theft and there is a lot of misinformation being spread in what we call captive audience meetings,” he said. of the group president Saru Jayaraman. “These are the facts.”

The idea of ​​increasing the minimum wage has been on the agenda for a while. Massachusetts lawmakers have introduced bills to raise the wage floor to $15 for a decade, but to no avail. And voters in the cities Chicago And Washington, D.C.has approved similar efforts in surveys, but critics have argued that the restaurant scene there has or will suffer as a result.

In Portland, Maine, a 2017 ballot question to raise wages was overturned a year later by the state Legislature following calls from some restaurant workers.

Some restaurant workers here have also been vocal in their objections, saying tips are a reflection of their skills and experience and a sign of a job well done.

Cameron Harris, general manager of Tres Gatos in Jamaica Plain, said taking it away could squander the quality of service.

“I’ve always been a hustler and loved having my own department because I felt like my service was different than other people’s,” he said. “I’ve always been very successful as a tipped employee. I’ve never felt like I wasn’t properly compensated. I loved providing a high level of service and having the money they left behind show it.”

Dilan Herrera, a 25-year-old bartender at Sonsie’s in the Back Bay, said Tuesday she voted against Question 5 because it could shift power to managers over employees.

“It looks good on paper,” Herrera said. “But I don’t like it when you start tipping managers.”

Diti Kohli can be reached at [email protected]. follow him @ditikohli_.