Small business surprises staff with a trip to Disney World: 'What better way to reward them?'

vt-author-image

By Asiya Ali

Article saved!Article saved!

A small business owner has rewarded her employees' hard work during the last two years with a magical trip to Disney World.

As reported by CBS Boston, Jessica Travis, who owns Toast which is a breakfast place in Hull, Massachusetts, shared that she "survived" the COVID pandemic because of her dedicated staff.

During a time when restaurants were unable to employ and keep people on the job, the employer expressed that it was crucial to make her employees feel valued.

That's why she is thanking them for their dedication with a trip to the happiest place on earth and said: "I feel like if you take care of them, they will take care of you. I feel like my customers have been amazing."

Watch Travis' interview below:

Travis bought Toast a few months before the pandemic hit. Unfortunately, she lost her entire team and wasn't sure if the diner was going to remain open. That's when she shifted to deliveries and employed a set of staff who have been with her ever since.

"She treats us like family every day that we come in - treats us like one of her own kids," said one employee in the broadcast interview.

According to the outlet, Travis revealed the surprise to her entourage in a creative way by having them put together a 30-piece puzzle that read: "Surprise we're going to Walt Disney World".

"For the last three years, they stuck by me. Dedicated themselves just to make Toast what it is today," Travis commented. "So I had the idea, what better way to reward them than Universal Studios and Disney for a week."

One employee named Stevie Ryan remarked that he was "kind of in shock" and thought that the trip "was a joke at first," however it's not, as all 27 employees - including family members - will be cruising on an all-expenses-paid seven-day trip to the enchanted venue this May.

wp-image-1263189796 size-full
Disney World in Florida. Credit: Jason Chillmaid / Alamy

Travis said the Disney adventure is more significant to her after her mother passed away a few years ago, leaving her an inheritance, and she has been waiting for just the right opportunity to do something meaningful with it.

"She will look down on me and I've been waiting to do something where she'd be like 'now that's what I what I wanted the money to be used for.' So that's what I am doing," she said.

The Toast employees also told the publication that their manager's gracious actions demonstrate that she "really cares for us" and that "hard work always pays off".

"I think just having a really good team behind you makes all the difference," the employee added.

Featured image credit: Zoe Rae / Alamy