[ June 18, 2026 ]
If Gavin Newsom’s best pal at Panera doesn’t have to pay the new business killing minimum wage of $20 per hour because of “the bakery exemption,” why doesn’t every eatery, restaurant etc just bake some bread? Seriously, get a bread machine and bake some bread.
Newsom is the greasiest snake in the swamp. Remember the Marie Antoinette-sque French Laundry dinner during his Covid mandates?
Imagine if a Republican ever tried to pull this?
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Panera Bread exempt from California’s $20 minimum wage law after owner donated to Gov. Newsom: report
By: Ariel Zilber, NY Post, Feb. 28, 2024:
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law that exempts Panera Bread from a new $20-an-hour minimum wage hike for fast food chains after the billionaire owner of several of the chain’s locations donated to his campaign, according to a report.
In September, Newsom, a Democrat, signed into law a measure that raises the minimum wage of food fast workers from $16 an hour to $20 an hour.
But the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act (FAST Act) includes an unusual carve-out that exempts “chains that bake bread and sell it as a standalone item,” according to Bloomberg News.
Newsom reportedly sought the exemption, which benefits among others Greg Flynn, the billionaire CEO of Flynn Restaurant Group, the company that owns some two dozen Panera Bread locations in the state.
ADVERTISEMENTFlynn, who attended the same high school as Newsom, has been involved in business dealings with the California governor, according to Bloomberg News.
In 2014, Flynn, who is the largest franchisee in the US with thousands of brands including Applebee’s, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Wendy’s, acquired a Napa Valley resort that was managed by Newsom’s hospitality firm, according to disclosure forms.
Flynn has a net worth valued at $1.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He has donated at least $164,800 to Newsom’s campaigns.
The Post has sought comment from Flynn, Newsom, and Panera Bread.
Flynn told Bloomberg News that he played no role in crafting the bread exemption.
Newsom told reporters last month that the exemption was “part of the sausage-making” in politics.
Michelle Korsmo, head of the National Restaurant Association, told an industry conference last year that “everyone’s scratching their head” about the bread exemption.
ADVERTISEMENT“You may be celebrating or you may be lamenting the bakery exemption,” Korsmo was quoted as saying by Bloomberg. “But remember, all of that comes through relationships.”
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