The Real Reason This Ohio Pizzeria Paid Its Employees $78 Per Hour

Heavenly Pizza was recently able to give its employees a heavenly reward. The restaurant, which is known for its flavorful cheesy tomato pies, wanted to find a way to reward its staff for all of their hard work during difficult times. Owner Josh Elchert, recently took to Facebook and said the eatery was celebrating Employee Appreciation Day by giving its workers its entire day of sales for its location in Findlay, Ohio. 

"Our employees have been so great during COVID, during the pandemic, during this season of uncertainty," he explained in the video. "They've just been fantastic. They show up every day, they're here in a good mood. We want to take a day and appreciate them." Elchert said that the plan was to divide the day's total sales amongst all of the employees, with Heavenly Pizza taking none of the profits. The restaurant typically gets about 90 orders in a day, but he was hoping customers would help them to exceed that — and boy did they.

Elchert said in the post that he was hoping they could push their order total to around 200 for the day, which would give each worker $40 to $50 an hour. "They've worked very hard over the past year and their dedication and loyalty to us is greatly appreciated, so hats off to them," he said. "I applaud my employees, I appreciate and value them and I hope it's a good day." Well, it was definitely a great day. The community came out in droves to order pizza and one patron even donated $100 to the cause. 

In total, Heavenly Pizza took to social media to share it received 220 orders, made $6,300 in sales, and brought in $1,200 in tips, which meant that each employee received $78 per hour. Elchert admitted that he was blown away by their patrons' generosity and thanked everyone for coming out. Longtime employee, Timmy Lemire, also told WTOL that he was touched by the support and that he had never experienced anything like it before. He explained the business now feels like his family, "Find a place where you feel purpose and you won't feel like you're meaningless — you'll feel right where you're supposed to be."