Talk about a more mindful burger!
Epic Burger is at it again providing community resources to those most in need. The home-grown multi-unit restaurant is not only offering 50% off meals to recently unemployed hospitality workers, the company has also raised $20,000 for furloughed teammates.
The coronavirus pandemic has hit restaurants hard, with thousands of Chicagoans out of work due to massive lay-offs. When faced with the cutting back operations, Epic Burger President Kyle Welch decided not to take a salary in order to keep more employees on payroll and provide free meals and gift cards to those he had to let go. What Welch didn’t expect was for remaining employees to match him.
“I had a surge of staff coming up to me and asking how they could help, volunteering a percentage of their paycheck to help the Epic Burger family. It was incredible to see that kind of camaraderie, and only fuels our mission to help our community,” says Welch, who quickly set up an optional internal support fund. Oof, here come the waterworks: Together they’ve raised $20,000 for laid-off workers.
Epic Burger didn’t stop there, though. The restaurant is also offering 50% off meals for all laid-off hospitality workers. All workers need to get the discount is proof of lay-off, such as a paystub or furlough documentation.
The restaurant also recently transformed its Lincoln Park location into a social-distance-friendly pop-up drive thru. Guests can drive up, give their order to a friendly employee, then park. A few minutes later, a team member rushes the food out. This not only allows for safe, streamlined ordering, it also allows the restaurant to keep on more workers.
Epic Burger has always been dedicated to making a more “mindful burger,” which extends to staff, the community, and the food industry as a whole. All beef, dairy, and produce are all-natural and ethically sourced and the restaurant has a history of giving back to the community. Just last year, the company partnered with Generosity Feeds and Blessings in a Backpack to tackle food scarcity in Chicago Public Schools.
For customers outside of Lincoln Park, customers can still order delivery, carryout, and pick-up from all four operating locations – South Loop, River North, Lincoln Park, and Evanston. The 50% discount for hospitality workers is available at all locations.
Feature photo courtesy of Epic Burger