America’s military personnel were remembered throughout the Memorial Day weekend by a number of foodservice chains, including Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Uno Chicago Grill and Boston Market.
Cracker Barrel said it would share with the Wounded Warrior Project proceeds from the sale in its 588 restaurants of country music group Montgomery Gentry’s CD, “For Our Heroes,” and shirts with Wounded Warrior’s logo. The Lebanon, Tenn.-based family-dining chain said it would make double donations on all CD and shirt sales through May 31 and is supporting the initiative with a sweepstakes.
“Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry are great artists to work with on this exclusive CD project,” said Peter Keiser, Cracker Barrel's vice president of marketing. “They have for a long time demonstrated their support of and appreciation for our country's service people. That concern is aligned with Cracker Barrel's multi-year support of the Wounded Warrior Project.”
The Jacksonville, Fla.-based Wounded Warrior Project raises awareness and enlists the public’s aid in meeting some of the needs of severely injured service men and women, such as transitioning back into civilian life, finding or returning to work, and supporting their caregivers and families.
Uno Chicago Grill of Boston is joining nonprofit Pizzas 4 Patriots and delivery specialist DHL to supply more than 25,000 pizzas to U.S. service men and women throughout Iraq and Afghanistan for July 4th celebrations, organizers said. They said Pizzas 4 Patriots is purchasing deep-dish pizzas at a greatly reduced price from Uno, whose parent, Uno Restaurant Holdings Corp., operates or franchises to others more than 200 casual-dining restaurants.
“Uno is honored to be part of Operation Pizza Surge," said Frank Guidara, the restaurant company’s chief executive and a veteran of the Vietnam conflict. “We have tried for years, without success, to send pizzas to our service men and women overseas. This partnership with Master Sgt. Evans and Pizzas 4 Patriots will finally allow us to accomplish that, and we are excited and proud.”
Operation Pizza Surge, if executed as envisioned, would amount to the world’s largest pizza party as tracked by the Guinness Book of World Records, Pizzas 4 Patriots sources said. They said the Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based organization was founded last year after retired Master Sgt. Mark Evans’ son, Kent, asked if they could ship pizzas to military personnel in Iraq for the Fourth of July. The resulting inquiries, actions and community involvement saw 2,000 of the popular food items delivered there for Independence Day, followed by a 2,000-pie delivery in time for the 2009 Super Bowl.
Golden, Colo.-based Boston Market last week said it would offer at all of its 530 stores a 20-percent discount to members of the Veterans Advantage card membership program for active and retired U.S. military and National Guard troops and reservists.
“Boston Market is proud to give back to those who bravely serve our country,” said Rick Arras, Boston Market’s president and chief executive. Arras is also a U.S. Marine Corps veteran.
Veterans Advantage, with headquarters in Washington, D.C., said its card benefits program is one of the ways it works to provide greater recognition, respect, and rewards for those who have served in the U.S. military.
In the vendor community, Hospitality Solutions International of Scottsdale, Ariz., until the end of the year is teaming with the U.S. Marine Corps Wounded Warriors and Sailors program to acquire and distribute Apple iPod Touch multimedia players and Internet browsers to injured personnel at Camp Pendleton in Southern California and Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
For every five iPods purchased by donors to the Touch a Wounded Warrior program, a sixth will be donated by HSI, a supplier of point—of-sale systems and other restaurant technologies and services, which is owned by Micros Systems Inc.
Donors can purchase iPods directly from HSI for $260, which covers the cost of the device, a $15 iTunes gift card for the recipient Marine or sailor, tax, shipping and the cost of engraving the donor company’s name on the player/browser. More information is available at:
http://web.hsi-solutions.com/Touch-a-Wounded-Warrior.aspx .
Contact Alan J. Liddle at [email protected].
