Business owners all over Alberta are starting to plan ahead for the increase in minimum wage.

Owner of Picasso's Pizza in High River, Rob Tipple, says at a time when business is already slow, they're probably going to have to raise their prices by 10 to 20 per cent in the next three years.

"The thing that concerns us right now is yes, there's the immediate increase in our wages for our staff, which is one thing, but we don't know how that's going to affect our suppliers and their prices. So there could be a two-tier increase on our supplies," he says. "We're trying to adjust for that and account for it, but without knowing what it's going to be, it's really tough."

He says he doesn't have anything against the Province raising minimum wage, but is finding it challenging to come up with a plan for the future without losing staff or customers.

"While we appreciate the thought of increasing the minimum wagewe're not against it at allwe're just afraid that in our situation, we only have two choices," he says. "We don't want it to affect the quality of our food, and we don't want to change our prices per say, so that really only leaves us with staff issues or pricing, and we're still trying to balance that."

Not being able to realistically cut staff hours, he says they're most likely looking at a price increase, so he hopes the community will be willing to pay a bit more for goods and services.