On the same day Starbucks said it would close 150 U.S. stores, voters in Washington, D.C. approved a ballot measure to raise the minimum wage for restaurant workers to $15. It’s not entirely a coincidence.

Faced with more competition and slower sales growth, Starbucks SBUX, -0.48% said it will close about three times as many stores in 2019 as it usually does each year. Reading between the lines, most of the closures are likely to take place in major urban markets in the Northeast and West Coast.

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Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson told Bloomberg News the affected stores are largely “in major metro areas where increases in wage and occupancy, and other requirements or things that were making those stores unprofitable.”

Although it’s not known yet if any stores in the nation’s capitol will close, Washington, D.C. is part of a vanguard of big cities on the coasts that have raised the minimum wage, passed paid-leave laws and approved other costly commercial regulations.

All of those steps taken individually may be laudable , but collectively they add to the costs of running a coffee shop or a restaurant. And in the fiercely competitive restaurant business in which thin profit margins are the norm, it can mean the difference between success and failure — failure that costs jobs.

Worries about businesses closing and jobs disappearing triggered surprising opposition among the liberal establishment in Washington over the “tipped wage” ballot question. The measure would raise the minimum wage for bar and restaurant workers to $15 by 2025.

Mayor Muriel Bowser, most of the D.C. City Council and top restaurateurs such as famed Spanish-born chef Jose Andres urged voters to reject the measure. Many restaurant workers were also opposed, fearing it might cost them their jobs. It still passed easily, 55% to 44%.

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Most local restaurants can’t simply pick up and leave, but Starbucks and other large chains have more flexibility. Johnson said “it’s middle America and the South that presents an opportunity.”

No surprise there. Taxes are lower and regulations are less onerous, especially in the South, the fastest growing region in the U.S. There’s been a large migration over the past few decades of Americans residents and businesses from north to south.

More recently, restaurants have increased investment in automation. McDonald’s MCD, +0.00% and Wendy’s WEN, +0.04% , for example, are rolling out kiosks nationwide that let customers make their orders from a machine.

The move toward automation is not just about saving on labor costs, though. For one thing, companies say it’s hard to find good help now with unemployment at an 18-year low of 3.8%. Customers also like self-ordering and buy more food, McDonald’s contends. That means higher sales and profits.

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Nor does the shift to automation mean most restaurant jobs are in danger. Businesses may need to hire more people to prepare, package or deliver the food to waiting customers, for instance.

Yet as “progressive-leaning” company like Starbucks shows, businesses are unlikely to stand pat when government raises labor or regulatory costs. And some workers will definitely lose out.