Whenever we visit food establishments, we expect to receive two things – a satisfying meal and great customer service. But this particular customer at a Five Guys in Detroit got more than the usual courtesy granted to a patron. Thanks to this amazing restaurant general manager and his staff.
In June, the Greektown Five Guys was visited by a man in a wheelchair. The restaurant’s general manager, Justin Hollon, knew this customer’s name – Leonard. He has seen him before as he had made visits to the establishment previously.
On this specific occasion, however, Justin noticed that there was something different about him.
“This time when he came in, he was having trouble ordering, saying he was sick,” he told FOX 2 Detroit.
The manager noticed that the man in the wheelchair also struggled with placing his order, and that’s the time when he decided to take matters into his own hands. Justin asked the staff to craft their famous “All The Way Burger” – which is generously topped with all their classic ingredients – for Leonard. He also added a side of fries and a drink to complete the meal.
Best of all, Justin gave all of this to the customer free of charge.
“He was so unwell that he couldn’t even process the order himself, so we just gave it to him,” he said.
But the man’s struggles didn’t end there. When he got to his table, he had difficulty eating by himself. That’s when Justin jumped at another opportunity to help him. The manager left the counter, sat with the customer, and helped feed him.
“Every guest is special to us,” he said.
For Justin, his actions just embodied Five Guys’ corporate policy.
“At Five Guys we don’t have — or believe in canned interactions but in the genuine interactions,” Justin told Liftable. “All of our interactions are genuine.”
A customer who was there at the time witnessed the touching scene, and decided to take snapshots of the moment to ensure that the good deed of the general manager get its well-deserved recognition.
Surely, it did. Several news outlets caught wind of the story, and Justin couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed because people were making such a big deal out of it.
“It came as a surprise to me, that so many are surprised to see this level of service for our guests,” he told said.
Nevertheless, he is glad that their inspiring story reached a lot of people – especially coming from Detroit.
“What I am most grateful for is the impact the story has had on my team. Too often my staff and I hear negative stories about the city we call home and often morale is lowered because ‘who wants to work in that environment,” he said.
This goes to show that at times, a little act of kindness can have an impact not just on one person’s life, but on the whole community as well.
“I believe that every person has the ability to make an impact on a person’s life through small acts, like this one,” Justin said.
Indeed, no matter how dark and negative our environment may seem right now, there are stories like this that will make us believe that there is still a lot of light and good left in this world.
Watch the video below to learn more about this story.