Freshslice Pizza

Freshslice Pizza is a Canadian pizza chain and franchise founded by Ray Russell in 1999. The franchise operates more than 100 locations across Canada. They are known for their pizza by the slice^[1] but also sell whole pizzas.

Freshslice Pizza

Company type	Restaurant franchise
Industry	Fast food
Founded	1999; 26 years ago (1999)
Headquarters	1610 Ingleton Ave, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Key people	Ray Russell (founder and CEO)
Products	Pizza
Website	www.freshslice.com

History

Freshslice Pizza was founded in 1999 by Ray Russell in Vancouver, British Columbia. Starting with a single restaurant, Freshslice grew to over 100 Locations across Canada.

Awards and recognition

In 2014 and 2015, Freshslice received a Golden Plate award for Best Pizza By The Slice from the Vancouver-based weekly publication The Georgia Straight.^[2][3]

In 2016, Ray Russell and Freshslice were awarded runner-up for the Entrepreneur of the Year Award through BCBusiness and Ernst & Young (EY) for his involvement at Freshslice.^[4]

Legal issues

In 2011, two Freshslice Pizza companies and the owner of two franchise outlets were fined $44,000 (Canadian dollars) for employing illegal workers. Companies owned by Ray Russell and corporate employee Bahman Afshari were all charged by the Canada Border Services Agency after a tip led to the discovery that over a dozen illegal immigrants were employed at Freshslice locations in Vancouver. Afshari was also personally charged.^[5]

In 2014 Russell was found guilty by the B.C Supreme Court of wrongful dismissal of a corporate employee. The courts ordered a judgement of over $40,000 (Canadian dollars) to the former employee.^[6]