Pizzeria Paradiso Institutes Service Charge

20% dine-in & 14% to go

On January 8, 2022, Pizzeria Paradiso began charging customers a set service fee for on-premise, to go, online pick up, and delivery purchases.  As a result, we will no longer participate in the traditional tip system. This is a decision we made after significant deliberation and reflection.

Our efforts to create equitable opportunities for all staff and to ensure consistent and fair pay are a bedrock of Pizzeria Paradiso’s ethos.  We believe that this move will begin the process of establishing a more equitable and stable compensation system for all of our staff members.

The new service charges will be 20% for dine-in and 14% for all to go, pick-up and delivery orders. The service charge will help offset the company’s increased direct compensation of our staff. Should customers desire to leave tips in addition to the automatic service charge, there will continue to be a mechanism for you to do so. These tips will be shared by all service-related staff members based on hours worked in the day and will be evenly weighted regardless of position or shift.

As an organization founded with the mission of creating a good place to work, we believe this move helps to maintain the cultural foundation of Pizzeria Paradiso. Our work environment starts with respect and compassion, to that we add a sizable amount of kindness and fun. The result is a very special community that supports one another while serving some of the best pizza in town.

But respect and fun is not enough. We enhance our positive work environment with tangible employee benefits. Pizzeria Paradiso is proud to have offered health insurance to our team long before it was popular to do so, let alone mandated. For many years, we have provided a benefits package including 401K, sick leave, vacation leave, and death and disability insurance. We recognize each employee’s birthday and reward employees with end of year gifts and/or bonuses. In pre-COVID times we also gathered twice a year to celebrate each other and the community we created. Pizzeria Paradiso wants each of our staff members to be fulfilled and feel supported in their work. We believe this has enabled us to be successful in our mission of creating a good place to work and discontinuing the tip system of compensation is another step forward. We hope that our customers recognize and also enjoy this success every time they visit, as they are a key part of our special community.

I personally have wanted to make this change for 30 years. In January 1992, restaurant critic Phyllis Richman wrote a wonderfully favorable review of Pizzeria Paradiso in The Washington Post Magazine. Five minutes after opening on the Sunday the review was published, Pizzeria Paradiso transformed from a relatively quiet restaurant to a packed dining room and a line of waiting customers. Some of you may remember the original Dupont Circle location with me in the kitchen making pizza. What stuck with me the most from that day isn't the long lines of eager customers, or the excitement we felt at having a packed dining room. What I remember from that day occurred after closing. One server after working a double shift, waved her cash (yes, cash, it was that long ago) tips above her head in glee. It had been a very long and busy day and she, rightfully so, was very excited by the results.

I quickly left the kitchen to ask her to put away the spoils of her hard day’s work. I did so because the folks working on the other side of the counter had also worked much harder that day. They, however, were receiving the same pay regardless of how busy it was. The disparity seemed wrong. It seemed wrong when I was a kitchen cook, it seemed wrong 30 years ago on that January day, and it seems wrong today. That’s why I embrace this change wholeheartedly. I did not believe in myself enough in 1992 to recognize that I could effect such a change. It took 30 years, but I think this is the right thing to do at the right time because I believe in Pizzeria Paradiso’s ability to effect this change. And I am so proud of our team for being part of this effort.

I look forward to you embracing the change as well and to the restaurant industry as a whole embracing this new model of service and compensation. As always, we thank you for your support of Pizzeria Paradiso and feel so grateful for our Paradiso community.

Respectfully and with great appreciation,

Chef/Founder Ruth Gresser