Tipping is a mess and this point has already been made.

there are those who would argue that raising this pathetic excuse for payment would increase unemployment, raise the price of restaurant food and hurt the restaurant industry (by logical extension, we should be lowering this wage, perhaps all the way to zero?)

Yes, of course that is the logical conclusion. Why is it a question?

Minimum wage has positive and negative effects. I have argued that the negative effects may outweigh the positive, but they are harder to see. More importantly, the negative effects hurt vulnerable aspiring workers, and the benefits accrue to the slightly-better-off employees who have skills enabling them to earn a higher salary.

San Francisco’s $10.74 minimum wage does not appear to have slowed restaurant growth there.