OHIO — Erich Weiss is the owner of Chick-fil-A in Cuyahoga Falls. His restaurant is temporally closed for several months to a remodel. 

Instead of telling his 110 employees to find a new job or go on unemployment during this time, Weiss has been paying them their normal wage.

What You Need To Know

  • The Chick-fil-A in Cuyahoga Falls is temporarily closed for renovations

  • The owner saved money for around a year to pay his employees during this time

  • In exchange, the employees volunteer at local nonprofits 

“I’ve been saving up for a year,” Weiss explained. “There is an account that I put aside, and I’ve just been saving that.” 

In return, he’s asking that his employees volunteer their time at a few local nonprofits, including the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank.

“They will probably work maybe 25 hours of volunteer and being paid,” he explained. “Then they are being paid the rest of the 15 hours to be at home.” 

Keturah Pritchard has been an employee at Chick-fil-A for almost three years. 

“I’ve worked in the restaurant industry for the majority of my life, for almost like 20 years,” Pritchard explained. “Volunteering has given me a different outlook on how we impact our community."

As a mother of two, keeping a consistent schedule was important to Pritchard.

“Having a hectic schedule already with my kids, I didn’t want to change my normal routine,” she explained. “I wanted to still have time to spend with my children as well as still getting paid to work.” 

She said she has learned a lot of new skills during her time as a volunteer. 

“I’ve learned a lot of different things,” she said. “I really like it because it is bringing out my different talents.” 

Pritchard plans to continue doing volunteer work even after her Chick-fil-A reopens. 

“I see what it does to the community, so I still want to make an impact, and help,” she said. “Any free time that I have when I am off from Chick-fil-A, I’m going to continue to be a volunteer.” 

That’s exactly the type of lesson Weiss hoped his employees would learn during this time. 

“My vision statement for Chick-fil-A is people impacting people,” the owner said. “So, that was kind of the lens that I was looking through to see what I could do with my staff.” 

The Chick-fil-A is expected to reopen mid-June.