The holidays may be a time of giving, but for many people, generosity transcends the season. Following are the stories of three restaurant operators who keep the holiday spirit alive from January to December through their acts of kindness.
Al Daniels, Domino’s Pizza franchisee
The first reaction when Al Daniels offers someone free pizza is usually surprise, then a little skepticism, and then gratitude, said the franchisee of five Domino’s Pizza stores in southeastern Georgia.
“Some people will look at me like, is this a hoax? Is this guy serious? Is this a gimmick?” Daniels said.
But he is quite serious, and has been since becoming a franchisee for the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based pizza delivery chain in 2007. Every day, as he makes the rounds to his stores in Camden, Glynn and Bradley counties, Daniels looks for a family or individual to approach and offers to buy them a dinner of one large pizza, a 2-liter bottle of Coke and a bread item, such as the brand’s Cinna Stix.
Daniels spends his own money, between $40 and $60 a day, to provide up to five families with a meal. He selects people at random. He doesn’t ask for their names or inquire about their financial status. There are no forms to fill out, no surveys, nor requests for personal information. He doesn’t write off the cost of the pizzas or claim a charitable tax deduction.
“There’s no return on it,” he said. “If there is a return, it’s the joy that I have in being able to have Domino’s and its national brand be courteous to people.”
Daniels was among the first beneficiaries of the pizza chain’s Delivering the Dream program, which helps minority team members become franchisees. Daniels had worked for Domino’s before joining the navy. He served for 20 years, received an honorable discharge and qualified for the Domino’s program, requiring him to pay only $5,000 of the $25,000 franchisee fee. The program was especially beneficial for Daniels, who was donating his military retirement check to cancer organizations in honor of his father, who died of the disease.
Daniels opened his first store in Brunswick, Ga. It was an immediate success, and he began seeking ways to give back to the rural farming community. He supported a community center and then, one day, walking across the parking lot in the store’s strip center, he overhead a little girl and her mother discussing his new Domino’s store.
“The mom said, ‘We can’t afford it.’ And I said, ‘Today you can. Follow me,’” Daniels said. “She touched my heart. I vowed after that to feed a family every day.”
Bruno Serato, chef-owner, Anaheim White House
When his fine-dining restaurant, the Anaheim White House, in Anaheim, Calif., was hit hard in the recession, chef-owner Bruno Serato did not decrease his charitable giving — he increased it.
For the past five years, Serato has provided meals to underprivileged children whose families live in nearby motels and struggle to make ends meet. The children come to the Boys and Girls Club of Anaheim, where Serato and his staff bring made-from-scratch pasta dishes, salads and desserts. What started out as 70 to 80 meals, five days a week, last year grew to 150 dinners, six days a week. At the same time, Serato’s business dropped 35 percent.
Serato estimated it costs him $25,000 to $30,000 a year to fund the program.
“It was tough on me; I had bills to pay,” he said. “But I couldn’t stop the program. I will do this forever, until I die. It will be my legacy and my mom’s.”
In 2005, Serato’s mother came from Italy for a visit. Serato, a board member for the Boys and Girls Club, thought she might like to see the after-school program. On their tour, they noticed a boy eating potato chips for his dinner. His mother insisted Serato feed the children.
“She said, ‘Come on, we can do pasta,’” Serato said. “I was thinking it would be six or eight kids. There were 70 to 80. I thought, ‘Mama mia!’ But I was a good boy. I listened to my mom.”
Serato founded the Caterina Girls Club, named after his mother, to help raise money for the Boys and Girls Club.
Donations poured in after the “CBS Evening News with Katie Couric” aired a story on Serato this year. A local television station also aired a live show at the Anaheim White House, and $85,000 was raised in three hours. The publicity brought in more customers, and Serato’s business has returned to pre-recession levels.
Serato encourages other restaurateurs to support the needs in their communities.
“You don’t have to feed 150, but if you buy someone a dinner, you have one less hungry child,” he said. “You do one person; you do good enough.”
Philip Romano, investor, entrepreneur, restaurateur, co-founder of Hunger Busters
Philip Romano has created more than 25 restaurant concepts, including Cozymel’s, eatZi’s Market & Bakery and such national chains as Fuddruckers and Romano’s Macaroni Grill. But one of his most satisfying achievements is Hunger Busters, a nonprofit program that feeds dinner to needy school children in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
“People do things in life for three reasons: to make money — I’ve made money; for social recognition — I think people know who I am; and third, for the intrinsic value, what makes you feel good,” he said. “This is where I’m at now. It makes me feel good to do it.”
Hunger Busters is the active arm of the Food Foundation, a charitable organization Romano founded with his wife, Lillie. It initially began in 2000, feeding homeless people out of converted UPS delivery trucks. But after a facility for the homeless opened in 2008, Hunger Busters looked for another need to address and found one among impoverished elementary students attending after-school programs.
“There are kids who don’t get picked up until 6:30 or 7 p.m.,” Romano said. “They never get that third meal. They were going home hungry and staying hungry.”
Teachers report that students who are getting the meals are getting better grades and participating more in class, he said.
Hunger Busters delivers boxes of food — a sandwich or soup, cookies and fruit — to the school. Teachers distribute them to the children. The program is in about a dozen schools and has matured to the point where it has its own kitchen, a director, a supervisor and an army of volunteers, some coming from Romano’s own restaurants, including eatZi’s, Nick & Sam’s Steak & Fish House, Who’s Who Burgers and Coal Vines Pizza.
Businesses and corporations support the program by sponsoring a school for $50,000 a year. Their employees also help distribute the food.
“Hunger Busters becomes a vehicle,” Romano said. “Now all of a sudden, the corporation is doing something good for the community, and its employees participate and help. Everybody wins.”
