UPDATE: Etre has decided to keep tipped waitstaff wages the same. A spokesperson says even though the state of Iowa tipped employee minimum wage at $4.35 (plus tips) per hour, all waitstaff employees will remain at or above $6.06 (plus tips) per hour.

"Our staff is what makes us and so for us, being from Iowa City it's important to give back to give back to the community and set the benchmark and let them know they are an important piece of our success" said George Etre, owner of Formosa, "For us it was a worthwhile investment to reinvest back into the staff because we feel we'll get that returned on the back end and hopefully they'll stay longer and work harder."

Non tipped employees will remain above minimum wage starting at $11 per hour.

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Some in Iowa City aren't happy with a restaurant group allegedly bringing its minimum wage back down to $7.25.

People are calling for a boycott of three restaurants owned by the Etre restaurant group, but the group says those who think that have been misinformed.

It comes after Governor Branstad signed a bill last week immediately barring cities and counties from setting their own minimum wage higher than the state's. Businesses in Johnson County were at $10.10, but now can go back to $7.25.

Etre owns three restaurants in downtown Iowa City - El Patron, Formosa and Takanami. Employees anonymously tipped off a few groups in Iowa City who have taken to social media asking people to boycott the three restaurants.

Groups like Iowa Action and Student Engagement have been praising restaurants like Bluebird diner and the Motley Cow Café who have put blue signs in their windows promising to keep their wages at $10.10.

A member of Iowa Action and Student Engagement says lowering the wages back is unfair to the employees.

“Well I think that making it possible for businesses to pay their employees only 7.25 is really allowing them to pay their employees starvation wages and that's the issue,” Brad Pector said.

Iowa Action and Student Engagement sent TV9 an email that Etre allegedly sent to its employees. The email says quote "we are all feeling the pressure from these tough economic times. Owning a small business is extremely challenging."

Etre sent TV9 a statement Sunday night saying people who think all employees’ wages were cut were misinformed.

This is Etre’s full statement:

“There is only a small percentage of tipped employees (all students wait staff) whose wages were affected. The small group of the employees affected are all tip based employees who average close to $30 an hour in wage (including tips) and majority of them work less than 5 hours per week. There is a good percentage of our tipped staff whose wage is not affected because they have shown they are committed to their jobs and make work a priority in their schedule. All back of the house, non-tipped employees’ wages are ABSOLUTELY not affected. We don’t have any NON-TIPPED STAFF making less then $11 per hour. Not only that, our we are giving ALL non-tipped employees a raise. We will continue to pay above and beyond the industry standard.”