By Andrea McBride
Staff Writer
CARO — Five to ten compliments about the Caro McDonald’s employees roll in weekly, and its customer service and hospitality excellence was rewarded in a big way last month.
The restaurant was one of 25 in the country to be recognized for its high scores regarding customer service and hospitality. Eleven of its top workers were selected by management to receive prizes.
Five employees received Xbox One Entertainment Systems, five received Madden 15 games and one employee was awarded a Super Bowl XLIX all expenses paid trip to Glendale Ariz. Each selected employee was randomly given an envelope that revealed the prize they had won.
Crew member Lisa Shippey of Mayville was the winner of the Super Bowl vacation package and said she is still in awe.
“It is unrealistic,” Shippey said. “Still with all of the flight plans and everything in front of me I still don’t believe it. I’m so excited.”
Shippey said she was “just passing through” when she acquired the job four months ago. Her coworkers quickly showed her otherwise, though, and she has formed strong bonds.
“This is the nicest place I’ve ever worked in,” she said. “Communication is so (good) here, and I felt part of the family within the first few weeks of working here.”
She said simply being recognized by her employers would’ve been enough of a reward.
“When I was told that I was even just part of the top 11 employees in the whole store, that instantly started making me cry then. I was crying then even if I wouldn’t have gotten the trip.”
Shippey is taking her boyfriend with her on the trip. She was also awarded $500 spending cash.
Trish Hollingsworth, area McDonald’s supervisor, said she was thrilled to see her employees’ hard work be recognized.
“It’s great because we truly believe we have some of the greatest employees. We recognize them quite often throughout the year, … but to be able to do it on this level and to be recognizing them from corporate — that’s huge to us,” Hollingsworth said.
Restaurant scores were based off of mystery shopping, where an independent company unknowingly visits the restaurant each month and judges drive-thru and dining room based on speed of service, quality of food and hospitality.
Scores were also determined by “The Voice,” an incentive on the back of receipts to get customers to call and tell about their service. Calls to the 1-800 number were also part of determining top scoring restaurants.
General manager Andria Babcock said being in the top 25 out of about 14,000 restaurants across the country has immensely boosted the already high employee morale.
“That’s contagious,” Babcock said. “You get a couple employees and it drives the rest of them.”