The appropriate response is to eliminate the minimum wage.
Let the market set wages.
What they don’t understand is basic economics.
If these companies have to pay their hired help $15 an hour, vs. $7.25 minimum wage, then the price of Bic Macs and everything else sold at these places will have to rise as well.
Arguably, fewer hamburgers will be sold, if McDonald’s and others have to raise the prices to cover the cost of substantially higher wages for these low skilled workers.
How many of you would pay $9 for a Big Mac meal? How many of you pay $5.99 right now for same, but would be unwilling to pay $9 for that?
I worked years ago in the finance area of a major fast food franchisee which operated over 20 fast food places. The biggest expense was paying the hired help. The profit margin of each store was very small, less than 5%. It’s predictable that the offset to substantially higher wages will be increases in the retail price of what they sell. But again, how many of you will pay substantially more for a Big Mac? Would a sharp increase in price encourage you to seek alternatives?
These people either don’t know how these things work, or else just assume that people’s behavior in what they buy will not change if the increases in pay they want are made.