Dressler named a finalist for 2010 award recognizing outstanding community service among our nation’s restaurants by Nation Restaurant Association
TAYLORS, SC (Restaurant News Release) Fatz Cafe is pleased to announce that, thanks to Operating Partner Bruce Dressler, the Irmo, SC, restaurant has been named a finalist for the National Restaurant Association’s 2010 Restaurant Neighbor Award. Fatz Cafe is recognized by the National Restaurant Association through the Restaurant Neighbor Award program, honoring companies each year that have gone above and beyond in giving back to their communities.
“I have had the pleasure of working with many great leaders, and, without a doubt, Bruce is a very special leader; he truly has a ‘servant’s heart’ for his staff, his guests and his community,” Chief Operating Officer Richie Cannon said.
Dressler introduced the idea of a Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser in 2009 with the specific purpose of making a difference and helping his local community grow in Irmo, SC. Fatz Cafe opens daily at 11 a.m. serving lunch and dinner to regulars, but on Saturdays Dressler sets up the restaurant five hours early. He volunteers with organizations in his community, ranging from local schools to The United Way, transforming Fatz Cafe into a hot spot for hotcakes. Fatz Cafe values the opportunity to strengthen its surrounding community and strives to make every guest feel like a regular.
In April of 2009, Dressler and Fatz Cafe had the pleasure of helping one of its regulars by raising nearly $2,000 for a kidney transplant. Last year, Dressler partnered with a total of 17 organizations and raised more than $50,000, and he has made it his personal goal to raise even more in 2010.
Dressler’s efforts extend past his own community, and he is always wiling to share his success with others in the Fatz family. The Pancake Fundraiser he started in Irmo launched companywide this year, helping raise funds for various organizations in 46 other communities.
For more information about Fatz Cafe, please visit www.fatzcafe.com and become a Facebook fan at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fatz-Cafe. And, for more information regarding the Restaurant Neighbor Award, visit The National Restaurant Asoociation’s website at www.restaurant.org.
About Cafe Enterprises
The first Fatz Cafe opened in a converted fruit shed in Spartanburg, S.C., in November 1988. Cafe Enterprises Inc. was formed to serve as the parent company to the new restaurant and the others that would follow. Headquartered in Taylors, S.C., Cafe Enterprises now owns and operates 47 Fatz Cafe restaurants throughout the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia and employs over 3,600 associates. Fatz Cafe, ranked #52 in the 2007 South Carolina 100SM list of the state’s largest privately owned companies, has also been named one of the nation’s top 400 restaurant concepts by Restaurants & Institutions magazine for the past seven years, most recently ranking #245. In 2008, Chain Leader magazine included Fatz Cafe in its “Top 50 Chains Under 50 Units.” For more information, visit www.fatzcafe.com.