By Tracy Morin
For Garibaldi’s Italian Eatery, a 50-year-old pizza brand and recent inductee into PMQ’s Pizza Hall of Fame, taking care of employees increasingly requires more than decent wages and a friendly workplace. Since Brian Mednicov, son of founder Gary Mednicov, took over operations in May 2026 for Garibaldi’s two stores in Hoffman Estates and Arlington Heights, Illinois, the company is rethinking employee benefits. Brian considers this move an important part of retaining the people who have helped build the business—and attracting the next generation of talent.
As the restaurant industry continues to be plagued with high turnover, burnout and the perception of poor work-life balance, Brian, now Garibaldi’s chief operating officer, says there is an opportunity for restaurants to become places where employees can build long-term careers.
“Garibaldi’s is the only restaurant that I’ve ever worked at, but I hear anecdotally that the restaurant industry overall is lagging,” Brian says. “We were definitely lagging when I came on board, and I still think we’re lagging. So I think there’s a lot of opportunity, within our walls and the industry as a whole, to make the restaurant industry a place where people want to work, people want to stay, and where they can have long, healthy careers.”
Beyond the Status Quo
Garibaldi’s 50-year history is one reason why changes to its benefits structure have taken time. In any legacy business, longstanding practices can be difficult to change—particularly when improvements come with an immediate cost.
“In a 50-year-old brand, a lot of things stay status quo—the ‘if it’s not broke, don’t fix it’ mentality,” Brian says. “Also, any change that you make does, at least in the short term, make a big hit to the bottom line.”
Still, Brian thinks these employee-friendly changes are important. The company recently introduced a 401(k) program, including a 100% employer match of up to 5%. “We saw that with the 401(k), there’s an added expense on our P&L every month, as many of our employees take advantage of it,” Brian says. “But it’s something that I thought was imperative to keep some of our current employees and for in the future, when we try to expand and attract new talent. It’s something that we need to offer. Overall, I think it’s going to pay great dividends in the long run, but in the short term, it is a tough uphill to climb.”
Paid time off is another area where Garibaldi’s is making changes. The company is following Illinois’ requirements, which provides employees with paid leave based on hours worked. By incorporating this policy into its payroll system, employees can track their accrued time. “I think there’s a cap at 40 hours a year, which, coming from the corporate world, 40 hours doesn’t seem like much to me,” Brian says. “But it is a lot for these employees who’ve never had paid time off before, so I’m trying to bridge that gap a little bit.”
A Different Perspective
Part of the push for better benefits comes from Brian’s own professional background. Before returning to his family’s restaurant business, he spent nine years at a Fortune 500 company, followed by time at a Seattle-based startup. The contrast between those workplaces and the restaurant industry was significant. “In the corporate world, I got every holiday off,” Brian says. “I got every weekend off. I got every night off. And I had generous PTO policies, 401(k) matching, health insurance, all of the above.”
He later worked for a startup, where the benefits were even more extensive. “And then coming back to the restaurant industry—I was first managing Garibaldi’s under my uncle, then became our chief operating officer,” he explains. “It was night and day from the corporate world.”
Restaurants, of course, can’t offer the same schedules as most corporate workplaces. Pizza businesses are busiest when many other workers are off, such as weekends and holidays. But, for Garibaldi’s, the goal is to work with those demands while also finding ways to make the overall employee experience more sustainable.
“I know we’re never gonna be able to have our employees off every weekend, and we’re never gonna be able to close every holiday,” Brian says. “But how can we provide a good middle ground for our employees?”
Employees Take Notice
Early employee response to the new benefits has been positive, Brian reports. “The level of participation in the 401(k), in particular, has been encouraging, while employees have also responded enthusiastically to learning that they have paid time off available to use. It’s been extremely positive,” Brian says. “I mean, you can tell just by the percentage of employees that are taking advantage of the 401(k). We have a 65% participation rate.”
The reaction to paid time off can be even more rewarding. “Even just mentioning to people, ‘You can get paid to take this vacation; you’ve got 10 hours accrued PTO.’ Or ‘You can take these two days off and get paid for it.’ Their faces, when I say something like that, are so happy and appreciative.”
For a company whose identity has been built around its people, those reactions matter. “I think what we built our business on, besides great customer service and great food, is our people,” Brian says. “We just had our 50th anniversary party, and it was incredible. We had people who worked for us in the ’70s, the ’80s. The stories I heard walking through the restaurant, I was in tears every corner I took.”
Indeed, Garibaldi’s boasts employees with decades of experience, including longtime managers and pizza makers who have remained loyal for much of its history. “Our vice president, Steve, has been with the company 50 years,” Brian says. “I have pizza makers, cooks and other managers who remember me being born. I think, overall, we have treated our employees very well, and that’s why they stay. That’s why a lot of the things in our business remain constant, whether it be recipes or customer service—we have a great core group of people who have been doing this longer than I’ve been alive.”
But the expectations of employees are changing, and the company sees benefits as part of adapting to those expectations. While employees weren’t requesting PTO and 401(k) plans in decades past, they’re now part of doing business. “With the upcoming generation, it’s really a necessity to be able to keep the business moving forward and attracting that talent, keeping people happy,” Brian says. “And something we want to continue being known for is being a great place to work. I hope I hire someone next week that’ll be with me for the next 50 years. That would be a dream come true.”
Tracy Morin is PMQ’s associate editor.
