Food & Beverage

A Florida Restaurateur Is Giving $100 to Each Worker Who Gets a Covid-19 Vaccine

It's a costly incentive, but the marketing benefits are apparently worth it

Many restaurant chains are giving employees paid time off to get a shot, but franchisor FSC is paying them, period.Andriy Onufriyenko/Getty Images

By Robert Klara

April 16, 2021

Driving relevance means driving growth. Join global brands and industry thought leaders at Brandweek, Sept. 11–14 in Miami, for actionable takeaways to better your marketing. 50% off passes ends April 10.

Among the most valuable rules that any restaurant-chain executive can attest to is this one: If you’re looking for a good idea, ask your franchisees.

After all, it was McDonald’s franchisees who devised some of the chain’s most popular menu items, including the Egg McMuffin, the Filet-O-Fish and the Big Mac. Subway’s profitable decision to add conveyor toasters to its locations also originated from a franchisee suggestion. And the original bacon cheeseburger—yes, the very first one a chain put on the menu? You can thank an A&W franchisee named Dale Mulder for cooking up that idea in 1963.

And