A Panera Bread franchise owner in California who is a major donor to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) said he plans to increase staff wages after backlash over an apparent exemption from the state’s new minimum wage.
Last year, Newsom signed a law that would require the minimum wage for California-based fast-food workers at chains with 60 or more locations nationwide to be raised from $16 an hour to $20 an hour, beginning in April. However, there was an exemption for restaurants that have on-site bakeries and sell bread as a stand-alone menu item, which would apply to Panera franchises.
Greg Flynn, who has donated over $220,000 to Newsom’s campaigns and who owns 24 Panera locations, announced on Tuesday he’ll raise the minimum wage from $16 to $20 for employees whether the exemption applies or not. Newsom’s office said because the restaurant chain mixes its dough off-site and ships it to franchise locations to be baked, Panera is not exempt.
“Regardless of whether the bakery exemption in AB1228 applies to our bakery-cafes, California locations owned and operated by Flynn Group will increase all hourly pre-tip wages to $20 per hour or higher effective April 1,” Flynn said in a statement on Tuesday.
Flynn also denied asking for an exemption in a statement, calling the measure “narrow” and holding “very little practical value.”
“To be clear, at no time did I ask for an exemption or special considerations. In fact, the idea never even occurred to me and I was surprised when the exemption appeared in the final legislation. Such a narrow exemption has very little practical value. As it applies to all of our peer restaurants in the fast casual segment, we will almost certainly have to offer market value wages in order to attract and retain employees,” Flynn said recently.
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“I also never met with Governor Newsom about this bill, though I did meet with his staff in a group meeting with other restaurant owners. And finally, although we attended the same high school, I never met him there and in fact didn’t meet him until decades later,” he said.
Like many California restaurant owners, Flynn opposed the legislation authored by Democratic Assemblyman Chris Holden. Flynn said the bill should’ve been “amended to exclude fast casual restaurants.”
