Freshslice Pizza
| File:Freshslice Pizza logo.svg | |
| Type | Restaurant franchise |
|---|---|
| Industry | Fast food |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Headquarters | Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada |
Key people | Ray Russell (founder and CEO) |
| Products | Pizza, pasta |
| Website | www |
Freshslice Pizza is a Canadian pizza chain and franchise founded by Ray Russell in 1999. The franchise owns 77 branches across Canada. They are known for their pizza by the slice.[1]
Awards and recognition
In 2014 and 2015, Freshslice received a Golden Plate award for Best Pizza By The Slice from the ; a Vancouver-based weekly publication Georgia Straight.[2][3]
In 2016, Ray Russell and Freshslice were awarded runner-up for the Entrepreneur of the Year Award through BCBusiness and Ernst & Young (EY) for his involvement at Freshslice.[4]
Controversy
In 2011, two Freshslice Pizza companies and the owner of two franchise outlets were fined $44,000 (Canadian dollars) for employing illegal workers. Companies owned by Ray Russell and corporate employee Bahman Afshari were all charged by the Canada Border Services Agency after a tip led to the discovery that over a dozen illegal immigrants were employed at Freshslice locations in Vancouver. Afshari was also personally charged.[5]
In 2014 Russell was found guilty by the B.C Supreme Court of wrongful dismissal of a corporate employee. The courts ordered a judgement of over $40,000 (Canadian dollars) to the former employee.[6]
In 2022, BC courts ruled in favor of a franchisee group who held ownership in over 10% of the Freshslice locations. This group had claimed recission against Freshslice and rebranded their locations. The courts dismissed an injunction by Freshslice and the locations were able to rebrand. This drastically dropped the location count for Freshslice
References
- ^ "A Unique Pizza Company". Archived from the original on April 17, 2019. Retrieved June 8, 2019.
- ^ "2014 Golden Plate Award". Georgia Straight. Archived from the original on 2015-01-10. Retrieved 2014-12-31.
- ^ "2015 Golden Plate Awards". Georgia Straight. Archived from the original on 2016-01-08. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
- ^ "2016 Ernst & Young Awards". BCBusiness. Archived from the original on 2016-10-09. Retrieved 2016-06-30.
- ^ "Freshslice Pizza fined $44,000 for illegal workers". Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on 2017-12-13. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
- ^ "FreshSlice Pizza owner had affair with employee before she was fired, judge rules", Metro Vancouver, archived from the original on 2015-08-22, retrieved 2014-10-14