As the busy holiday period wound to a close at The Standard restaurant in Toledo, the owners surprised their staff with a three-day cruise to the Bahamas.
Admitting that their team of cooks, servers, and hosts were the “lifeblood” of the business, Chef Jeff Dinnebeil and his wife, co-owner of The Standard Megan Lingsweiler, got the idea to reward their team after enjoying a cruise vacation with their own children last year.
The couple even took a few loyal customers and former team members out with them to the Royal Caribbean cruise, which stopped at the islands of Nassau and Bimini.
“Everybody went on there as employees, and when we left and went back home, everybody was like family,” Andrew Jackson, one of the restaurant’s cooks, told the Toledo Blade’s Sheila Howard.
Jackson had neither flown nor been on a boat in the ocean before, so the experience was a life-changing one. It felt the same for server Allison Latta, who like Jackson, said the experience turned her team members into family members.
“I had been on cruises before, but this alone was probably my top vacation,” she told the Blade. “It was just such a unique experience getting to see 60 of your co-workers around the boat.”
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Serving upscale American cuisine with a focus on surf and turf, The Standard is a popular spot on Monroe Street in northwest Toledo.
Dinnebeil and Lingsweiler credit the success of their restaurant to the quality of the team, who also received Christmas bonuses in addition to the cruise. The restaurant was closed to ensure that no team member had to stay behind while the others went and partied it up on the high seas.
Along with the island visits, the trip included Karaoke nights, scavenger hunts, large catered dinners, and a basketball competition.
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