“We don’t get to choose our challenges, but we get to choose our response.” &pizza CEO Michael Lastoria tweeted on March 14th.
From there he outlined the numerous steps &pizza (a 40-unit fast-casual pizza chain and a long-time Sparkfly client) is taking to protect their “tribe,” their community, and their customers:
- The wait time for full health benefits is waived for new employees.
- Sick and/or quarantined employees get a 14-day health and safety paycheck.
- The sick leave policy now includes anyone caring for loved ones or caring for children when schools are closed.
- Providing free, unlimited pizza for all employees and their immediate families.
- Sparkfly is proud to power the discount codes to get these free pizzas.
- Increasing the hourly wages for all store-level employees by $1.
- Partnering with Lyft to offer $5 rides to work so employees can avoid public transportation.
- Paying commute costs if mass transit gets disrupted.
- Shutting down headquarters and having corporate and executive-level employees work on the ground at store-level positions .
- Creating a #HeroPies campaign that makes it easy for consumers to buy pizza for hospital staff via a text line or online ordering.
These actions show that &pizza is a nimble, caring and proactive brand. And this is worth noting for other QSRs working to respond to these challenging times.
While we can’t choose the challenge before us, we can choose how we respond. Make that response meaningful and genuine.
Together we will get through this. Stay safe, friends.