Pizza chain owner who pays $16 an hour says there's no labor shortage, just a shortage of businesses

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

willing to pay a decent wage

Business owners say they're struggling to find staff. Not so the CEO of &pizza, a restaurant chain in Washington, DC, who claims that he's been bombarded with job applications.

Michael Lastoria told Insider that business was booming at the pizza chain's 51 locations and all were fully staffed. He said that the secret was paying staff a proper wage.

The crippling US labor shortage has been felt in all corners of the economy, including hospitality and ride-hailing. It's caused some businesses to slash opening hours, cut production, and raise prices. Nearly half of US restaurant owners said they struggled to pay their rent in May because staffing shortages hurt their revenues.

But it hasn't knocked &pizza, Lastoria said.

While opening 12 new locations this year, Lastoria said he'd received well over 100 applications for each job. "Our new locations are fully staffed and we plan to open another 15 by the end of the year," he said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/this-pizza-chain-owner-who-pays-16-an-hour-says-there-s-no-labor-shortage-just-a-shortage-of-businesses-willing-to-pay-a-decent-wage/ar-AAM1s7b

[Sherman A1]

1. And there ya go

Just explains everything.

[LakeArenal]

2. I honor their efforts but:

Realistically $16 is still not a living wage.

I don’t have a link but I read somewhere that had minimum wage kept up with the economy it would be $24 or $28 per hour.

Even that with a family of four, they would still need two bread winners.

I’m not dissing the pizza guy at all.

Kudos to him for stepping up.

[dutch777]

3. Folks are just SO done with being trampled and used...businesses will get smart or not exist

I think there has been a lot of mental trauma from the pandemic and its many social and economic side affects. The old attitudes about employer/employee relationships, customer relationships and just how we all interact have to change. I am endlessly grateful for the grocery, medical, delivery, restaurant and other workers we all took for granted until Covid. We could hunker down safely at home and they faced exposure every day to do their jobs and keep our lives as normal and safe as possible. Yes, paying them more and giving them benefits will increase costs to the consumer and businesses. It's a real cost we should bear and learn to live with. It's been the right thing to do for a long time and I am glad to see it.

It will also be interesting to see how firm's like Apple do with saying employees must be in the office the majority of the time even if their work tasks really don't require a physical presence. My daughter in law is an Apple employee and her job is completely compatible with 100% remote work and she is now deciding whether to just get a new job that supports remote work rather than restarting a long commute that has no advantage for her. My wife, also a tech worker. but promised remote work for perpetuity has a theory that some of these company managers just really yearn for having underlings physically present simply to feel truly "in control". She may be on to something there.