Restaurant Owner Continues to Pay Workers After Business is Destroyed by Fire

There are bosses and then there’s Bruce Kroll.

The owner of Culver’s restaurant in Platteville, Wisconsin proved he is more interested in his workers than in profits when he reportedly continued to pay his employees after a fire burned down his business last November, reports Huffington Post.

For four months while Culver’s was rebuilt, Kroll took money out of his own pocket to cover his workers’ expenses because he didn’t feel it was right to leave them stranded after learning that insurance would only provide for them for 60 days. In total, he reportedly spent $144,000 of his own money to pay them.

Kroll owns another Culver’s franchise in Iowa and says he used his earnings from that establishment to help pay his Wisconsin employees.

“Given a different situation, if I was on the other side of the table, I would hope that someone would take care of me, too,” Kroll said.

The only thing Kroll asked of his workers in return for his kindness, he says, was for them to volunteer their time in the community. And his workers happily obliged. Employees reportedly helped raise money for their local fire department, volunteered at a local church, and gave their time to Badger Camp, which helps disabled people.

“I’m probably going to be here another five years just because of the owner,” said Cole Cooper, a grateful Culver’s employee.

Kroll says he feels lucky that the fire only destroyed his restaurant and that his workers are what matter most.

“It is just a building and Culver’s of Platteville is much more than that,” he said. “It is the people and not the building and we didn’t lose the people and so why should we allow the fire to cause that to happen?”