I was talking specifically to Bogie, who wants (presumably) someone that can pass a drug test, is polite and presentable to customers that by his own Facebook stories treat counter people like crap.
I'm pretty sure he's not setting the starting wage himself, but he's looking for more than minimum work skills, and offering, literally, minimum wage. Does the availability of "free" money make it so there are less people willing to do that job at that price? Sure, but if they were offering $12-$14 an hour, I suspect they'd have enough applicants they could afford to fire underperformers.
I am beginning to suspect that the restaurant server/counterperson/waitstaff shortage has less to do with a bunch of people on unemployment, and at least partly to do with folks are unwilling to do that crap job for that pay. Having seen too many "Karen" video's lately I'm not sure they're wrong.
FWIW
this site gives you an interactive map that lets you see the max unemployment (with and without extra COVID pay). It looks like Missouri, with COVID bump, works out to about $15.50/hr break even (assuming a 40hr work week.) Any Overtime would change that number.