Pizza Pizza: Little Caesars Retains D.C. Lobbyists

A major pizza chain has picked up Dykema Gossett to lobby for it in Washington.

Little Caesar Enterprises Inc. is using the law firm to advocate on small business tax credit issues, dairy industry supply management regulations and menu labels, according to a lobbying registration report filed with Congress this week. Dykema is lobbying on many of the same issues as the American Pizza Community, which formed this year to represent the interests of Little Caesars and other pizza chains.

The pizza industry has become particularly vocal about its opposition to proposed menu labeling changes the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced in April 2011. Under the FDA plan, chain restaurants would be required to display on menus in their stores how many calories are in the foods they sell. With most of their customers making orders online or on the phone, the American Pizza Community has said the plan doesn't make sense for them.

The coalition also opposes legislation that is intended to balance milk supplies with demand when dairy prices decrease, and supports a bill that would extend a tax credit given to employers who hire individuals from certain low-income groups.

Dykema government policy advisers Andrew Buczek and Mary Beth McGowan are handling the account. Neither the lobbyists nor Little Caesars spokeswoman Kathryn Oldham could immediately be reached for comment.

Little Caesars, which is based in Detroit, hasn't had federal lobbyists before, according to congressional records that date to 1999.