After skipping lunch Saturday to rush to the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport – only to discover a flight delay – a tourist group of 111 people had one thing on its collective mind: food.
Not to fear, said the team from Delaware North, which operates food, beverage and retail services at the 
airport.
With hopes of placing an order large enough to accommodate everyone, the group approached the Delaware North-operated Villa Italian Kitchen. Managers Kevin McCarthy, Robin Rowe and Tom Jacobs had an all-hands-on-deck solution.
“We had a Stromboli-making party,” said McCarthy, a department manager, referring to a food item that features cheese (typically mozzarella), meat and vegetables rolled in dough. “They ordered 100, and we cut them up into pieces of three – so there was plenty to go around. To make that happen, though, it was a full team effort. Staff from the prep kitchen, Checkers (another restaurant) and managers from all over the building jumped in to give a helping hand.”
In the airport’s prep kitchen, Delaware North’s Stromboli-making party included a dough-stretching assembly line of sorts, McCarthy said. But it wasn’t just about expediting the order of 100; it was still business as usual at Villa Italian Kitchen.
“During this time we still needed to operate and serve other guests,” McCarthy added. “During their downtime, associates from Checkers were jumping in at Villa to help serve guests as well.”
The above-and-beyond effort certainly followed suit with the company’s customer service platform, GuestPath®, which has 10 universal service standards – one of which is teamwork.
“It made us all immensely proud to see our team step up and go out of its way to help one another with an order of that magnitude,” McCarthy said. “It very much embodied the spirit of GuestPath and universal service standard No. 7: teamwork. The staff went above and beyond to ensure that guests who were not part of this group did not feel any negative impact on their guest service and that all of the normal meal options were available.”
Also joining in on the Stromboli-making action were associates Maral Salih, Charles Borden, Conrad Rochester, Rochelle Broadus, Tamika Cook, Brittany Parsons, Andrea Montgomery, Stephanie Mancinelli and Russell Bishop.
PHOTO CAPTION: Manager Robin Rowe and associate Maral Salih work to complete an order of 100 Strombolis.