Staffing

Piada providing Texas employees with hazard pay

Piada Italian Street Food is providing much-needed relief to Texas employees, who suffered lost wages when stores closed last month during the snow storm, which caused mass utility failures, including power outages and water and food shortages.

A chef at Piada fills an order. Provided.

March 5, 2021

Piada Italian Street Food is providing much-needed relief to Texas employees, who suffered lost wages when stores closed last month during the snow storm, which caused mass utility failures, including power outages and water and food shortages.

The 38-unit chain based in Ohio provided hazard pay to workers as well as an additional $200 as a non-taxable distribution to help boost pay to offset lost hours, Matthew Harding, SVP of Culinary and Menu Innovation, said in an email to FastCasual. Five of Piada's eight stores were closed at one time or another.

"It was an event that effected our entire Texas team, they all suffered from it, from dead batteries to broken pipes," Harding said. "For us it was an appreciation, the dedication and hard work they put in to serve our guests when it was safe to do so. We are on track to double the size of the company in three years and we cannot do that without our talented team."

Although the storm caused up to a 30% dip in sales, the funds given to employees came from the chain's operating funds as opposed to menu price increases.

"We can't ask our guests to subsidize our team's wellbeing, that's our responsibility," Harding said. "We focused on keeping food in house, as the roads got worse, we lost sales in delivery, we stayed open as a service."

Piada Partners with the LeBron James Family Foundation to launch Piada Gives Program

Piada's outreach, however, doesn't only extend to Texas employees. The company has partnered with the LeBron James Family Foundation to create Piada Gives, an opt-in donation program benefiting organizations that directly support Piada's core causes: cancer research, education, eliminating food insecurity and social equality.

Guests who opt-in to Piada Gives via the new Piada app will automatically donate 1% of every purchase to a charity or non-profit making an impact.

"Service is at the heart of what we do at Piada, but it means so much more than providing the Guest with an exceptional experience and delicious food," Harding said in a company press release. "It means supporting our guests by building up our communities, and we can do that by supporting incredible organizations like the LeBron James Family Foundation."

Through the end of March, all Piada Gives proceeds will go to the LeBron James Family Foundation, an organization based in James' hometown of Akron, Ohio, that provides fundamental resources, wraparound supports and programming to help children and families thrive.

"Over the last decade, Piada has worked with several organizations doing critical work to address a variety of important issues:

• $40,000 donated in free kids meals last year at the start of the pandemic.
• $10,000 donated to the Trevor Project supporting crisis intervention.
• $31,000 donated to the children and families of the LeBron James Family Foundation.
• $25,000 donated to more than 20 organizations supporting Black Lives Matter.
• $125,000 donated to Pelotonia to accelerate innovative cancer research.