``Never Mind Tax Cuts for Fat Cat CEO's... Raise the Minimum Wage!'' Says Jeno; Entrepreneur Jeno Paulucci Urges President and Congress to Help Working Americans.

Business Editors

SANFORD, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 3, 2003

America's Number One Entrepreneur and business legend Jeno F. Paulucci fired another salvo today in his personal crusade to give the nation's political powers a verbal hotfoot for focusing on the forest, not the trees.

In the wake of tax cuts recently signed into law, crusty Jeno called upon President Bush and the Congress to pay more attention to "the minimum wage earner...if he or she is lucky enough to even have a job."

"Raise the minimum wage to $7.00 an hour now, and to hell with the fat cat CEO's and their millions and billions," Paulucci implored in a full-page ad launched in Washington DC press today.

It was Paulucci, 85, creator of the Michelina's(R) frozen entrees and about 70 other brands (Chun King, Jeno's Pizza Rolls, RJR Foods that became RJR-Nabisco), who bought Washington DC ads last July to demand that the President and Congress call for grand juries to investigate rampant CEO scandals. He dropped off his latest ad en route to Monte Carlo, where he is America's candidate for Ernst & Young's World Entrepreneur of the Year honors.

"OK, now that you have cut my taxes even though I didn't need it...nor will I spend the reduction I get...I hope it will help the economy and the stock market," Paulucci wrote. "But what about the minimum wage earner...if he or she is lucky enough to even have a job?"

Then he turned it on: "For God's sake, if CEO's can justify $10 million to $100 million salaries and bonuses...that really come from the cost of goods and services the minimum wage-earner buys...can't we at least afford for corporations and businesses to pay more of a living wage and raise the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to at least $7.00 an hour?"

So what if hamburger stands have to charge a dime more for a hamburger, he wrote. "Let the working person get a living wage!"

The self-described "independent in politics" from Sanford, Florida, concluded: "Let's share...or the division between the extreme left and the extreme right will come to really haunt us."

Known as "The Incurable Entrepreneur," Jeno Paulucci has built and sold 50 companies over the course of his business career. When he was 72 years old, he launched his most successful venture yet -- Luigino's. The company now accounts for a quarter of the frozen entrees sold in North America under the Michelina's and Budget Gourmet brands.

Note to editors: To obtain a PDF file of Jeno's ad running in Washington papers beginning today, contact [e-mail]