A Brooklyn pizzeria is raising its prices to meet ObamaCare requirements

(Image credit: Screenshot/CBS)

last updated 2 December 2015

A Brooklyn, New York, pizzeria called Franny's has announced it is raising prices to be able to afford the spending requirements of ObamaCare. Now, the menu reads, "a 3 percent surcharge will be added to all checks to cover the Affordable Care Act for all Franny's employees."

"We've always been criticized for prices," explains Franny's executive chef John Adler, "so we said, 'Hold on, before we start putting $22, $23 pizzas on the menu, let's be transparent about what that money is going towards.'" Because the pizzeria's owners run two other restaurants, they meet the 50-employee baseline requirement of the ACA — and with it, "upwards of a quarter million dollars" in added costs, Adler says.

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"It is appearing that many of our guests are viewing the proposed ACA surcharge as anti-ObamaCare, which is so unfortunate, because it is in fact, quite the opposite! Through this surcharge, Franny's is embracing ObamaCare. Clearly our intent was misunderstood and our guests have made it clear that they would prefer to see higher prices as opposed to a surcharge. We've always worked in the service of our staff and guests and will amend our prices accordingly while removing the surcharge entirely.Initially, we thought, before we start putting $22 pizza on the menu, let's be transparent about what that money is actually going towards. However, it seems given the stated preference of our guests as well as the potential for misinterpretations into the future, we will retract the surcharge and reconfigure our menu pricing instead." [Grub Street]

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.

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