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O P I N I O N

THE SOAPBOX

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Stand up. Speak up. It’s your turn.


As the world faces the current pandemic, we must all focus inward toward our local communities and working together to survive whatever the future will hold. As CEO of Great NH Restaurants, I never dreamed I would face the situation we are now in.  If you’re like me, you are filled with more questions than answers, but you then realize that we all must be strong and march forward each day knowing that this crisis will pass.

Restaurants are a driving force in New Hampshire, always generously supporting our communities in time of need with fundraising support. The COVID-19 concern is real, and it’s important that you understand that supporting your local restaurants through this time benefits us all.  There are over 69,500 foodservice jobs in NH…10 percent of the NH workforce! We must work together to ensure that we can hit the ground running when this time of uncertainty is over.

With just 24-hours’ notice we’ve had to respond to the mandated closing of our in-house dining. Our leadership team has worked around the clock to figure how we can support our employees as well as the people of NH that count us every day. We were happy to learn that our hourly employees would not have to forfeit insurance benefits in spite of not being able to schedule them with hours. They technically are still employed and weren’t laid off. With our guest counts down some 80 percent we simply couldn’t keep the hourly employees scheduled. We did issue out $120,000 in bonus to them this week, to ease the pain a bit until unemployment checks start to arrive next week.

We are now focusing our efforts on making great takeout orders quick and easy and urge everyone to order as frequently as you can.  This is the only way we can continue to schedule our salaried managers. I’m pleased to report our guests have been incredibly generous with tipping and we are pooling those to give to our hourly employees over the next few weeks. Every single order will make a huge difference to every restaurant.  I’d like to personally thank Governor Sununu for authorizing restaurants to be able to include beer and wine with takeout orders. This will make some difference in our ability to weather this storm.

It is also important to remember that our team has always adhered to the highest standards in sanitation practices and have always understood how important our “Serve Safe®” procedures are.

Please order takeout from your locally-owned restaurants as much as you can. We hope you not only enjoy your food as a bright spot in your day, but also as a time to know that your order has truly helped sustain the well-being of New Hampshire’s restaurant industry for the future.  I think I speak for all the restaurants in NH that we can’t wait to invite you back into our restaurants and bars!


Beg to differ? Agree to disagree? your thoughtful commentary on topics of interest are welcome. Send submissions to carolrobidoux@manchesterinklink.com, subject line: The Soap Box


Tom Boucher 2017

Tom Boucher, CEO-Owner
Great NH Restaurants, Inc. (T-BONES, CJ’s, Copper Door)

Past Chairman, FEEDNH.org

Director Emeritus, National Restaurant Association

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