On April 1 1014, Euclid Hospitality Group, owner/managers of Pi Pizzeria and Gringo, will implement a minimum wage of $10.10 per hour in all seven of its restaurants, according to Chris Sommers, Pi’s founder. The raise to applies to non-tipped employees only.

Although the news may seem somewhat ironic on a day when workers are again striking over current wage levels, Sommers said the decision has been in the works for some time.

The challenge was how to increase wage levels without increasing menu prices.

Sommers said Pi’s prices have remained constant since its inception six years ago and the last thing he wanted to do was raise them in tandem with increasing wages.

Sommers and partner Frank Uible felt that even though their employees were paid above minimum wage, an increase was appropriate, and embarked on five months of numbers crunching to figure out a way to do it.

“We have already reduced turnover, which is a big expense” Sommers said.“ “We’ve trimmed costs associated with training and recruiting new employees, and although it was probably time to raise our prices, we won’t.”

The $10.10 per hour wage represents a 33% increase over Missouri’s current minimum wage of $7.50 per hour (the last 15 cents of which went into effect January 1, 2014).

The genesis of $10.10 stems from Mayor Slay’s announcement in January of a wage increase to that amount for part-time workers in the city of St. Louis, as well as anyone doing contract work with the city.

We know of no other local restaurants or groups of restaurants to have taken such an initiative.

Mayor Slay and members of the Pi Pizzeria team will formally announce the news at a press conference, scheduled for 12:15 p.m. Wednesday at Pi at the MX (610 Washington Avenue).