Staffing

&pizza on track to pay $15 per hour by 2022

Photo: File/provided.

November 19, 2020

By 2022, Washington, D.C.-based &pizza's 40-plus locations will have a $15 minimum wage in place, stepping up the brand's progress toward the goal, which is part of its Fight for $15 efforts, a news release said. CEO Michael Lastoria hopes the efforts will "light a fire under legislatures," while educating the public about "systemic inequalities affecting 10% of America's essential workers" that he said are employed in foodservice.

"2020 knocked us all on our asses, but these essential workers showed up," he said in the release. "In most cases, they had to for the paycheck — for their livelihood and families — and in all cases, because they are the best of us — caring and committed — as we now need to be even more so for them.

"We must make the minimum wage in this country a living wage, and if Congress can't figure that out quickly, &pizza will show them how. Our goal is simple: to unite the working class around this issue."

The company has shown historic growth while generating best-in-class profit margins, which Lastoria said debunks the claim that raising the minimum wage is "bad for business." Since the brand's inception eight years ago, &pizza has made worker rights central to its image.