Restaurant Neighbor Award 2008 Finalist
Colorado

Rock Bottom Restaurants
Louisville, CO

Restaurant managers have a lot to learn about the business when they arrive in a new position, but they also have to learn about volunteering when they start at Rock Bottom Restaurants. Every six weeks, the company’s MIT (Managers In Training) volunteer at local food banks. Rock Bottom says the MIT Volunteers Program teaches managers at 200 plus locations about the company’s “giving culture” from the beginning of their employment and results in the managers initiating other volunteer programs in their home stores. So far this year, Rock Bottom’s MITs have donated 542 hours to help in food banks across the country. A project to build a playground in New Orleans reminded many Rock Bottom managers how they could make a difference through service. As part of its annual meeting, Rock Bottom bused 200 of its general managers, vendors, franchisees and executives to New Orleans to build a playground for a day care center. The center was three houses away from a levee breached during Hurricane Katrina. In about five hours, the Rock Bottom team built a large playground with swings, slides, a pizza herb garden and 18 other projects.

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