Businesses the world over have had to weather massive disruptions due to the pandemic. As they gradually recover from the shock, some of them have decided to show their appreciation to their employees for standing by them during the tough year. The latest to do so is a pizzeria owner in the US state of Ohio. The owner of Heavenly Pizza in Findlay gave an entire day's profits to his employees to express gratitude. In a Facebook video on the “Employee Appreciation Day” on July 5, the owner, Josh Elchert, urged people to buy pizzas and assure that “none of the money is coming back to the pizza shop” on that day.
“Every cent, all the tips, all the orders, anything that comes in today, is going directly to our employees that work today,” he added.
Watch the video here:
Mr Elchert has been running the shop for 11 years and on a typical Monday, the shop caters to about 100 orders. However, on July 5, there were 220 orders. The shop shared that it had received $6,300 (about Rs 4.69 lakh) in sales and $1,200 (about Rs 89,000) in tips, which will be divided among its employees. It thanked all its customers.
“Well, you guys are awesome!!!! Thanks to all of you, our employees had a huge day!!! Better than I had hoped !!!!” the pizzeria said in the post.
Several social media users lauded Mr Elchert's initiative and also appreciated the food.
“We ordered from you yesterday and the food was fantastic!” commented a user named Eric Colman.
“Glad to be a part of this! And the food didn't disappoint as always,” said Jennifer Ludwig.
Praising Mr Elchert, Laura Courtad said, “You are truly a great person and that's why we love buying amazing pizza from you! Glad the day went great!”
“This is amazing for you and your staff Josh!” said Miriam Ibarra.
“You are an amazing boss maybe you could teach some of the other companies happy employees= better customer service= more revenue from repeat customers," said Amy Himmler.
Speaking to WTOL television network, the pizza outlet owner said he had put out the video to urge customers to show “love to our employees and they did, a lot”.
“You can have the best pizza in the world,” he said, adding, “If you have no one here to make it, it doesn't matter.”
One of the workers, Timmy Lemire, said that he hadn't “experienced anything like this before”. Mr Lemire has been working at Heavenly Pizza for five years.
