The CEO of Papa John’s, John Schnatter, has announced plans that would pass on the costs of health care reform to his employees in response to Obamacare. Schnatter has announced that he will more than likely cut the number of hours his employees will work as a result of President Barack Obama being re-elected to the White House. This past summer, Schnatter told shareholders that a pizza from the company will increase by 11 to 14 cents because of Obamacare.
“I got in a bunch of trouble for this,” Schnatter said in reference to the comments he made in August. “That’s what you do, is you pass on costs. Unfortunately, I don’t think people know what they’re going to pay for this.”
Schnatter also said that he does not favor the Affordable Care Act and that he does not have anything against it either. He admitted that “the good news is 100 percent of the population is going to have health insurance.”
The new act says that employees who work over 30 hours per week can be covered by their employers health insurance plan. Another chain in the food industry, Darden Restaurants, said that it has thought about reducing the number of hours their employees will work as well. Darden owns Red Lobster and Olive Garden.
The owner of one Applebee’s franchise, Zane Tankel, said that he will not be hiring any new employees in response to Obamacare.