Freshslice Pizza

Freshslice Pizza

Company type	Restaurant franchise
Industry	Fast food
Founded	1999; 26 years ago (1999)
Headquarters	1610 Ingleton Ave,Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Key people	Ray Russell (founder and CEO)
Products	Pizza
Website	www.freshslice.com

Freshslice Pizza is a Canadian pizza chain and franchise founded by Ray Russell in 1999. The franchise operates more than 100 locations across Canada. They are known for their pizza by the slice^[1] but also sell whole pizzas.

History

Freshslice Pizza was founded in 1999 by Ray Russell in Vancouver, British Columbia. Starting with a single restaurant, Freshslice grew to over 100 Locations across Canada.

Awards and recognition

In 2014 and 2015, Freshslice received a Golden Plate award for Best Pizza By The Slice from the Vancouver-based weekly publication The 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]

Legal issues

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]

References

1. "A Unique Pizza Company". Archived from the original on April 17, 2019. Retrieved June 8, 2019.
2. "2014 Golden Plate Award". Georgia Straight. Archived from the original on 2015-01-10. Retrieved 2014-12-31.
3. "2015 Golden Plate Awards". Georgia Straight. Archived from the original on 2016-01-08. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
4. "2016 Ernst & Young Awards". BCBusiness. Archived from the original on 2016-10-09. Retrieved 2016-06-30.
5. "Freshslice Pizza fined $44,000 for illegal workers". Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on 2017-12-13. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
6. "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