If you live in Washington, you would have heard this news story. Even if you don’t live in Washington, chances are you heard of this tragedy anyway.
On November 29th, four police officers were gunned down while sitting in a coffee shop. Three of the four officers were married and all were parents. A massive search for the gunman ensued and the suspect was shot and killed.
Some of the Papa John’s Pizza restaurants in Washington state decided to donate 100% of their sales for two days to the officer’s families. Think about that….100% of sales…ALL PROCEEDS, NOT JUST PROFITS… from 42 restaurants!
Thanks to water cooler gossip, and our modern day forms of communication (email, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), word about this fundraiser spread like wildfire. Papa John’s franchise owners had no idea how successful their effort would become. They estimated that they might be up to four times busier than normal, but the reality was more like 10 to 12 times! They also estimated that they might raise about $20,000. I have not been able to find information on the results, but I am certain it’s much higher than that.
Wait time for pizza stretched into over an hour. Some places ran out of pizza dough. Oregon state employees drove up to help out and bring supplies. Customers even helped assemble pizza boxes. Many of the stores had to stop answering their phones. Reports were that many of the restaurants got more orders in eight hours than they would get in a whole week. But, instead of crumbling under the pressure, they did the best they could and for those who could not place an order, they asked customers to purchase gift cards and all those proceeds would go to the families.
I appreciate that these owners took any idea of sales and profit out of the picture and focused on helping out the devestated families. I appreciate the people of Washington state who helped to spread the word, purchase pizzas, and practice patience while Papa John’s tried to accommodate all to the best of their abilities. I appreciate that this effort was made immediately, without much deliberation on the financial ramification.
I personally have never eaten at Papa John’s, but I will now. The owners of these 42 restaurants demonstrated integrity, strong character, and honor; attributes seemingly scarce in today’s society. Having worked in the food service industry, my heart goes out to all the workers who really went above and beyond to support their restaurant’s vision. I hope they all were able to rest well after those two days and I hope Santa leaves a little something extra in their stocking this Christmas 🙂
That is an uplifting story where a company showed compassion over profit.
By the way, we LOVE Papa Johns pizza – it's our family favorite.
Antoinette