MISSOULA — Missoula's Market on Front will be open on July 4 for the first time with all sales from the day going directly to their employees.
The downtown establishment is calling the event "Employee Appreciation Day" as the store is normally closed on Independence Day, but all employees volunteered to work on Saturday.
In fact the event has two more volunteers than its regular Saturday morning shift, which might come in handy because of the volume of burritos Market on Front is planning to sell. Employees will still be paid their hourly wage which they actually didn't know when they originally signed up.
"When I used the word volunteer they originally thought they weren't getting paid," said Market on Front co-owner Dennis Round. "Funny thing is we still had 17 people sign up."
"Yeah that clarification came yesterday" Market on Front barista Catherine Roby added. "We were all like 'oh cool double money.'"
The Rounds also left it up to the staff to pick the menu and their operation hours.
"We are way overstaffed because we are all really excited to work tomorrow but we got to pick the hours so we are only open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.," Roby said. "We got to pick the menu so we are doing breakfast burritos because everyone likes them so much. Our coffee bar is still open, all of our retail is open. Beer, wine, chips snacks, all of it is for sale and it all comes to us."
There was also one bonus decision that might have convinced a couple of the employees.
"We threw in one other crazy thing, we let them choose the music so please don’t hold me responsible," Round added.
"Its going to be 90's country," Roby said with glee.
There are regular, vegan or veggie burritos and they can be customized. You can call or go online and order ahead of time to save a wait in line.
Proceeds from the use of any deliver app or service like DoorDash will still see profits go to the employees. They can also take orders outside for anyone trying to comply with social distancing and limit their exposure to others who are indoors.
