Vickie and Ken Monize with their staff
Ken and Vickie Monize are the owners of the 93-year-old Ole’s Waffleshop in Alameda, California. It was Vickie’s parents, Bob and Christie Adams, who purchased Ole’s Waffle Shop in 1972 from the founder. Vickie has been working here since she was 17. After working seven days a week for decades at their diner, they bought a dream property recently. They planned to build a house and retire from the business in 2021.
When the virus struck and the first shutdown began in March 2020, they lost 85% of their revenue overnight. Between March and July 2020, they spent nearly $400,000 of their own money to keep Ole’s in business. The $220,000 loan they received from the federal government’s payroll protection program only covered two months of wages and none of the other expenses to run the restaurant. They should have closed the restaurant and let all the employees go.
But the Monizes made a stunning decision to retain all 41 employees, whether there was enough work or not. Some of the staff have worked for them for decades. Monize pays some of the veterans $80,000 a year. He trusts them with the recipe for their signature waffles, which dates back to 1927 and is kept in the safe. They have celebrated weddings together, and children’s birthdays. How could they let them go? And, to pay the salaries, they sold their dream property!
“Our staff is more important than a retirement home,” said Ken Monize then, “Their families depend on us and I take that responsibility very seriously. I’m not going to let them down. I refuse to do it.” Vickie added, “It’s so emotional. It’s so personal, Ole’s is a key part of me. Without it? I don’t know.”
Then the COVD-19 cases began dropping in California and indoor dining was allowed. Just when things were looking better, a second spike began and again indoor dining was banned by the government. Once again, the Monizes were facing a hard decision: Should they close the business and let the staff go? And, once again they decided to keep going. Instead of laying off a single employee, the Monizes are selling the last piece of property they own, a different home in Santa Rosa that was recently rebuilt after burning to the ground in 2017.
“I can keep the house but it only saves one family,” Ken says. “If I do this, I can save 40 families. If this shutdown doesn’t last long, we will be OK. We will probably be retiring outside of California. But we are not going to quit. We are not going to give up.”
Afterword: This story is based on two reports that appeared in the East Bay Times of Oakland, California.
This is such an inspiring story for even someone in remote Bengaluru. Hats off to the Monizes.