The irresistible aroma of pizza greets you as soon as you step into Dudley Dough, dubbed “Pizza With Purpose.” And that purpose is pretty simple, according to Luther Pinckney.
“We are trying to promote social justice through equal pay and fair wages for employees and staff.”
OK. When you put it that way, it doesn’t sound so simple, but Pinckney says the idea is to earn a living wage with just one job—a concept that is unheard of in fast food. At Dudley Dough, the starting hourly wage is $12.50 but the goal is to make that $15. That’s an extra $4 an hour when the minimum wage goes up January 1st.
“We want them to be able to live off of one job so they can be civically engaged and more involved in their families.”
Dudley Dough is the latest social enterprise out of Haley House, the nonprofit that started out as a soup kitchen in the South End 50 years ago. They opened Haley House Bakery and Café over a decade ago, and Dudley Dough is further proof that their socially-oriented model is working.
The Roxbury pizza joint has only been in business for a year and they aren’t out of the red yet but Pinckney says once they start making a profit, the cash will be divided evenly among employees, providing an added financial bonus.
“Our model is a simple pie chart, pizza pie, if you break it into thirds. Generally, you have the owner’s profit, you have the employees and HR and then you have the supplies,” Pinckney says. “We are trying to eliminate the owner’s profit.”
Eliminating the owner’s profit is generally not a priority for any business venture. In low-wage industries, like fast food, what ends up happening is the taxpayers end up footing the balance, says Indra Guertler, a business professor at Simmons College.
“Instead of McDonalds providing, the government steps in and provides for those workers.
$153 billion, to be exact. The UC Berkley Labor Center last year dropped a report saying that taxpayers are subsidizing full-time low-wage workers with public support because their employers don’t pay them enough. Meanwhile, the quiet but steady rise of B corps, better known as Benefit Corporations, challenge traditional business models by making equality and sustainability their core mission— and they’re successful.
But can a pizza joint like Dudley Dough thrive on a social justice model?
“Dudley Dough and Haley House don’t have to have shareholders, so if they don’t need shareholders,” Guertler says. “The people they’re catering to are their donors and the people they serve, so they’re doing a customer focus first, which always makes a business better.”
That may be at a cost for the worker. A study out of UMass Boston’s Center for Social Policy this month suggests raising the minimum wage to $15 could drastically reduce the amount of public assistance available for these families. But still, Guertler says businesses like Dudley Dough will be even more necessary to help make a dent in the number of people who are known as the working poor.
“It comes down to leadership and if leaders are willing to be transparent to their values and own their values and get like-minded people to share in those values,” says Guertler, “And then decide how are we going to make a difference. It’s leadership.”
For Luther Pinckney and his team at Dudley Dough, it’s a no-brainer.
“We’re trying to put more money into the people’s pockets who actually do the work,” says Pinckney. “To do that, there’s lot of different ideas. You put your money into your employees and they in turn give you your customers, which I believe very strongly.”
