CHARLOTTE, Mich. — The owner of the English Inn says the community has been incredibly generous to his staff during the pandemic.
That's why the Eaton Rapids restaurant is donating 100 four-course meals to people who have worked throughout the pandemic.
Even though the pandemic has impacted sales, owner Erik Nelson says they have been lucky to find creative ways to continue operating with relative success.
Nelson says customers have been generous with cash tips for the staff, and some people were even providing Christmas gifts for staff members' children.
"That rubbed off on us a little bit. We wound up doing gift cards for a lot of our staff. We wound up actually having a bartender of ours who continued working throughout this last closure start tipping out other employees who were not working at the time. That kind of generosity was so amazing, and to be honest, it really captures our hearts, and our general manager David Becker decided he wanted to put together something for us to do to really give back to our community," Nelson said.
Initially, the restaurant released 40 four-course meals for two. Nelson said they booked up quickly.
"Amazing seeing the booking system and all of the open availability flashing red with people trying to book. Almost immediately, it was pretty exceptional the kind of response that we had," he said.
They released another 10 meals for two Tuesday night on their Facebook page.
The meals will start with shrimp cocktail, salad, then prime rib with baked potatoes and vegetables and New York-style cheesecake to top it off.
The meals will be served on Wednesday. In the meantime, Nelson says it's been wonderful to see the stories people are posting on Facebook about friends and family they want to recognize.
"Who have been so selfless throughout this whole pandemic, it's really heartwarming," he said.
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