User:Cunningham617/sandbox

The Upper Crust Pizzeria is a Boston, MA-based pizzeria chain specializing in distinctive, from scratch thin crust pizza with seven current locations in the Boston area along with ones in Beverly Hills, CA and Arlington, VA.

The company’s first pizzeria opened in Boston’s historic Beacon Hill neighborhood on Charles Street in 2001. The restaurant grew to fourteen locations and developed a loyal following before declaring bankruptcy in 2012. The company was purchased in 2013 by Quabbin Capital and is now headed by CEO RJ Dourney (Applebee’s, Au Bon Pain Bakery Cafés, Così) who brought his restaurant leadership to the Upper Crust team in 2017. Today, Upper Crust is focused on making pizza with fresh gourmet ingredients and contributing to each pizzeria’s community.

Quabbin Capital is a Boston based private equity firm investing in US manufacturing and consumer goods companies.

History
A Boston Favorite

Upper Crust Pizza developed a dedicated following in Boston soon after opening its doors. With fresh, gourmet ingredients and “ginormous” slices, it quickly became a favorite of the Beacon Hill community. Soon after that, it earned “Best Gourmet Pizza” (Boston Magazine) and “Boston’s Best Pizza” (The Improper Bostonian) , and eventually won over the local college crowd.

Department of Labor findings and subsequent lawsuits and investigations

Prior to Quabbin Capital purchasing Upper Crust, a United States Department of Labor investigation of the company’s pay practices from April 2007 through April 2009 revealed that Upper Crust’s hourly workers were paid straight time even after they exceeded 40 hours in a week. The company was ordered to pay more than US$341,000 in back wages to about 121 workers for uncompensated overtime.

On July 16, 2010, a lawsuit was filed against the company by two former employees, claiming that the Upper Crust had forced employees to give back thousands of these dollars. The lawsuit claims that Upper Crust made illegal deductions from the plaintiff’s wages, paid below the legal minimum wage, and retaliated against those who complained. Tobins described the plaintiffs as “disgruntled ex-employees... trying to figure out a way to extort money from our business”,[9] but in 2012 the company’s former chief financial officer swore an affidavit saying that the Upper Crust had devised a scheme to wrest the money back which included the cashing of forged checks.

In 2011, The Boston Globe reported that several former employees have claimed that United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is investigating the company’s alleged hiring of illegal immigrants and other labor violations.

In 2012, Upper Crust co-owners Joshua Huggard and Brendan Higgins sued Tobins, alleging that he had used more than $750,000 in company money for personal expenses, such as the purchase of a small airplane. Tobins was placed on leave from the company.

Huggard’s and Higgin’s company filed for bankruptcy in late 2012, shuttering all of its locations.

Reorganization in bankruptcy

UC Acquisitions, a private equity firm with ties to Upper Crust founder Jordan Tobins, purchased some locations from the bankruptcy estate of Huggard’s and Higgin’s firm. The location in Harvard Square was subsequently purchased by an attorney who had represented the chain’s employees in a lawsuit, to be re-opened as a partly employee-owned pizzeria.

The company filed for bankruptcy in late 2012, temporarily shuttering all of its locations.

In 2013 Upper Crust Pizzeria was purchased by Boston based Quabbin Capital and began serving pizza again shortly thereafter with all new management.

References[edit]