SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) – The CEO of Papa John’s Pizza says if President Obama’s Affordable Health Care Act isn’t repealed he’s going to have to raise prices of his pizza.
In one of his Papa John’s commercials John Schnatter says, “We're going to be a family run independent pizzeria no matter how big we get," and boy have they gotten big. With more than 80,000 employees worldwide Papa John’s is becoming one of the fastest growing restaurants in America. With that many employees Schnatter says to protect their shareholders' interests the cost of providing health care to their workers will have to be passed on to the consumer.
According to Politico, in a conference call last week, Papa John's CEO John Schnatter said, "If Obamacare is not in fact repealed; we will find tactics to shallow out any Obamacare costs and core strategies to pass that cost onto consumers in order to protect our shareholders best interests."
For pizza lovers that could mean an increased cost of about 11 to 14 cents a pizza.
"15 cents is a ridiculously small amount to pay so if that's what it cost to pay for people's health care than I’m all for it,” said Alecia Terry.
Adrianna Costello-Martin felt the same. "I'd pay 15 cents to help people get some insurance,” said Costello-Martin. “It’s 15 cents."
Of course not everyone feels that way, many worry that most American business owners will have to raise their prices to pay for the new insurance requirements.
Lydon Oswald said, "Our country can't afford Obamacare. The people that are already getting free healthcare will continue to get free healthcare and it's just going to put a bigger tax burden on people in the country."
Still there are those who say, much like when the minimum wage laws were passed, it's the companies who will ultimately have to eat the cost or face losing their customers.
Anton NcLain said, "If it's truly an issue of you having to raise prices, you'll be less competitive in a very competitive environment."
Schnatter has already been on the record as not being a fan of President Obama. He hosted a fundraiser for Republican Challenger Mitt Romney back in April.
According to the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission Schnatter made $2.75 million in 2011. Just last quarter, Papa John’s revenue jumped to $318.6 million.
