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Burger King employees in North Branch, Minnesota, paid tribute to a regular customer achieving widespread news coverage from the gesture.
Staff at the branch attended the funeral of 91-year-old Jerry Parkin in uniform and brought his regular seat at the restaurant to the service.
Parkin, a daily visitor to the restaurant, was known for enjoying his coffee in the same seat every morning. To honor his memory, staff brought the chair, engraved with his name, birth and death dates, to the funeral, complete with a Burger King crown and an American flag in recognition of his military service.
His daughter was taken aback by the unexpected tribute. “Someone came into the kitchen at church and said, ‘The whole crew from Burger King is here,’” she told local news outlet KARE 11. “And they brought a chair. I said, ‘What?’”
Online reaction to staff tribute
The gesture captured widespread attention online, with social media users praising the employees for their kindness and sense of community.
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One commentator said: “The smallest acts of kindness and compassion can have a profound impact,” while another added, “This is the kind of brand loyalty you can’t buy.”
The gesture has generated hugely positive PR for Burger King and shows staff at the branch to be highly engaged and committed to their customers - a huge boost to the firm’s employer brand reputation.
Whopperologist role grabs headlines
Meanwhile, the firm has started recruiting for a highly specialised and on-brand quality control role, looking for a “Whopperologist” to uphold the standard of its flagship burger—the Whopper.
A job listing for the role outlined that the position will involve visiting various Burger King restaurants to conduct in-depth assessments of the burger’s consistency, flavor, and attention to detail.
The BK PR department will be lighting cigars after its headline-grabbing work that shows a workplace culture prioritizing customer service and staff engagement, while its employer brand will have been boosted by its quirky recruitment drive.
