Ohio Pizza Shop Gives Entire Day's Worth Of Sales, Tips To Workers

Josh Elchert wanted to pay it forward to his employees.

Like many other businesses, Heavenly Pizza has had a rough year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing staffing shortages.

But Elchert considers the Findlay pizza restaurant lucky: “We have always had the employees to operate at a sustainable level. We haven’t had to shut anything down or cut things off or limit our menu. We’ve been extremely fortunate.”

That’s why he planned an “employee appreciation day.”

On July 5, Elchert showed his gratitude by giving all of the revenue from the day’s orders back to his employees.

“Normally on Mondays we do, like, 90 orders. If we could push like the 200 order limit, that would be pretty fantastic,” Elchert said in a Facebook Live video, reminding customers of the employee appreciation day. “…If we could give our employees $40 or $50 an hour to make pizzas today that’d be pretty fantastic.”

Luckily, the employee appreciation day was a success.

Heavenly Pizza updated its Facebook status on July 6, sharing the outcome:

“Well you guys are awesome!!!! Thanks to all of you, our employees had a huge day!!! Better than I had hoped !!!!

220 orders!!!!

$6,300 in sales

PLUS $1,200 in tips just yesterday!!!

$7,500/ 96 total hours = $78/hr”

Elchert hailed his employees’ “dedication and loyalty” in the Facebook Live video.

“I applaud my employees,” Elchert said. “I appreciate and value them and I just hope that it’s a good day.”