The Daily Californian
Zachary’s awarded “Best Pizza” by The Daily Californian and readers 1993, 1995 to 2002, 2006 to 2009
Zachary’s named “Best Restaurant, Honorable Mention” 2000, 2001
“But the height of heights, the crème de la crème, the baby-you’re-the-top of pizzas is undoubtedly Zachary’s Chicago Pizza.”
“(Leandra) Schuler (Vice-President) explained that in 2003, the founders, Zach Zachowski and Barbara Gabel, announced that in the wake of their retirement, Zachary’s would transform from a typical business to one that is employee owned. Zachowski and Gabel made this decision in order to preserve the legacy of Zachary’s through their loyal employees. The company now operates as an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, or ESOP, meaning profits fund individual employee accounts, which in turn they use to purchase stock. Only Zachary’s employees can own stock.” Excerpt from “Pieces of the pie: A look into Zachary’s Chicago Pizza” October 23, 2016
“This system (of employee-ownership) allows the employees of… Zachary’s to have stable careers due to shared success between the employees and the founders. ‘There are days when our whole kitchen (will be) people … here for 15, 20 years each,’ said Zachary’s manager Kevin Suto. The reason for this retention, according to Suto, has to do with the fact that money from the profit of the company goes into the employee stock ownership plan account of the employees, which allows them to buy stock in the company as well as provide for their retirement.” Excerpt from “A slice of Berkeley: Unique pizza culture grows locally” April 30, 2014