Jeffrey Bonnette is always up for a challenge.
Case in point: In November, Anthony’s Pizza at the Camp Foster Exchange in Okinawa, Japan, received an unusual online order from a customer requesting four pepperoni pies with crusts shaped and toppings arranged to each resemble a cat. The pizzas were to be served during a birthday celebration for the customer’s 4-year-old daughter.
Bonnette, a retired Airmen 1st Class who had worked at Anthony’s for about a year, sprang into action to fulfill the request. “I was really pumped up to make the pizzas because it was so different than most of the orders we received,” he said.
After researching similar pizza designs online, he began sculpting dough into round, cartoonlike feline faces featuring pointed ears, black-olive eyes and rectangular pepperoni whiskers. He also created a pair of number fours from additional dough to represent the birthday girl’s age.
Photos of the finished pizzas were subsequently posted by the customer on an Okinawa-area Facebook page, where they received more than 1,000 likes.
Bonnette’s over-the-top customer service effort was recognized recently as part of the “I Did the Right Thing” program.
Exclusive to the Pacific Region and inspired by the Exchange’s corporate “Do the Right Thing” initiative, the program empowers associates to make positive decisions and follow Exchange core values in creating extraordinary customer service experiences.
Associates who receive outstanding customer-service comments are nominated each month by their Exchange general managers for recognition in the program. If selected by the region’s business management office, they are awarded a $25 Exchange gift card and see their name and photo featured on “Do the Right Thing” posters that are displayed at Pacific region stores.
“Jeffrey took to heart Exchange’s focus on `Do the Right Thing’ and `The Exchange is You’ to help this customer’s family enjoy a birthday celebration that they’ll never forget,” said David Swenson, Okinawa Consolidated Exchange general manager. “It’s another terrific example of how Exchange associates go above and beyond to serve the best customers in the world.”
Bonnette said the Anthony’s team saw an uptick in requests for shaped pizzas soon after the cat-inspired pie photos were posted online.
“People made a lot of great comments and that made me happy,” said Bonnette, who was recently promoted to supervisor at Camp Foster’s Charley’s restaurant. “I love doing stuff like that because I love my job and I try to come to work with a positive attitude every day.”
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