It was pure Jersey.

New Jersey’s most powerful elected state officials — Gov. Phil Murphy, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, and state Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin — slid into a corner booth at a Sayreville diner Tuesday morning to champion a compromise they made on a bill to gradually increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next five years.

One problem: The diner’s owner, Teddy Lutas, said he wasn’t crazy about the plan, that it could cause him to raise prices and even push him out of business. And that made the public event a pretty awkward affair.

So awkward, in fact, that Coughlin and his staff quickly met with Lutas in an attempt to remove the egg from the Democrats' faces.

As breakfast shifted to lunch, the speaker and the diner owner released a joint statement saying Lutas wasn’t aware the $15 minimum wage would be phased in, and praising the bill as a boon to workers. The diner owner was no longer worried the higher minimum wage would force him out of business, according to the statement.

Pure Jersey, for sure.

Murphy, Sweeney and Coughlin had all gathered at 9:30 a.m. at the Ocean Bay Diner on Route 35 about two weeks after they ended a stalemate and reached a deal on the minimum wage.

Both the Senate and Assembly, the two houses of the Democrat-controlled state Legislature, are expected to pass the legislation Thursday at the Statehouse in Trenton. Murphy said Tuesday he’ll likely sign it into law “shortly thereafter.”

The three leaders all touted how they expect the measure to change the lives of underpaid workers and families across the Garden State — and benefit the economy.

“It’s the right thing to do,” Murphy said. “It will put a lot more money in people’s pockets, and they’ll spend it.”

Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said he was “thrilled” to be there.

And Coughlin, D-Middlesex — who represents the legislative district the diner is in — said this is a “thorough and thoughtful bill.”

The event already threatened to be awkward because of the tension between Murphy and lawmakers, especially Sweeney, who recently challenged the governor to a debate on public-worker pensions.

But unexpectedly, it was the diner’s owner who made the morning uncomfortable for the Jersey leaders.

Coughlin asked Lutas — who was sitting next to Murphy in the booth — about part of the bill that would raise wages for tipped workers, like those at a diner, from $2.13 an hour to $5.13 an hour.

“Does that pose real problems for you?” the speaker asked him."

Lutas said the problem would be he’d have to raise menu prices.

“The people who come in are not gonna pay (for) a $5 hamburger,” he said. “They’re gonna pay $10. Because you have a waitress making $15 an hour.”

Murphy stressed the hike would be phased in over five years and that it’s a “myth" that raising the minimum wage leads to unemployment.

Sweeney said the bill will give people more money and create more customers at the diner. Coughlin added that people may need to work fewer jobs and can get more involved in their community instead.

After the event was over, Lutas told reporters he was against the bill. He even said he was concerned he’d “go out of business” because diner patrons are often older residents or families looking for a cheaper meal, and he won’t be able to meet 50 percent of his payroll.

Lutas — who also owns the Galaxy Diner in Colonia — said he wasn’t sure if the leaders heard his concerns.

“They’re not gonna listen to a small-business owner,” he said. “They’re gonna sign it no matter what, like they did in New York."

But about an hour later, after speaking with Coughlin’s staff, Lutas clarified that he “was not fully aware” the wage hike would be gradual. That, he said, he can get behind.

“I do support paying my hard-working employees a wage that helps them make ends meet and makes the state more affordable for them,” Lutas added. “We have a very loyal customer base and I know they’ll continue to frequent my diner. I am not concerned about having to close.”

In his own statement, Coughlin said the diner was chosen because "we wanted to ensure that small business owners fully understand every facet of the minimum wage bill including the phase-in provision.

“We have worked painstakingly to craft the fairest and most responsible bill possible,” the speaker added.

Many Republicans and small business owners have expressed about the bill, which would lead to a 70 percent increase by 2024 from the current minimum wage of $8.85 an hour.

The New Jersey Business and Industry Association said it has received 3,000 letters from business owners, workers and residents concerned about the legislation.

“Companies are challenged in their inability to raise costs at the retail level and, therefore, will need to cut costs through cutting hours and benefits,” NJBIA President Michele Siekerka said in a statement.

Under the bill, the minimum wage for most workers would increase to $10 an hour on July 1, to $11 on Jan. 1, 2020, $12 an hour on Jan. 1, 2021, $13 in 2022, $14 in 2023 and $15 in 2024.

Seasonal workers and workers at businesses that employ five or fewer workers won’t reach $15 an hour until 2026. Farm workers will reach $12.50 in 2024, after which it would be left up to state officials in the executive branch whether to keep going to $15 an hour by 2027.

New Jersey Policy Perspective, a liberal Trenton think tank, estimates that more than 1 million workers in the state would benefit from the hike once it’s fully implemented. About 10 percent of those workers would be put on a slower path.

On a lighter note, a waitress at the diner brought Coughlin a slice of cake during the event. Thursday is his 61st birthday.

But the candles were a "4″ and a "1″ — as in 41, the number of votes it will take to pass the hike that day.

Murphy even serenaded Coughlin with a rendition of “Happy Birthday.”

It’s Coughlin’s birthday Thursday. So they got him a cake and Murphy led a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday.’ pic.twitter.com/Q1X0FXfuhb — Brent Johnson (@johnsb01) January 29, 2019

NJ Advance Media staff writer Samantha Marcus contributed to this report.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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