Staffing

Uno launches vaccine concierge, gives $50 gift cards to vaccinated workers

Photo: iStock.

March 30, 2021

Boston-based Uno Pizzeria & Grill is launching an in-house concierge system to help company-owned store, corporate and manufacturing employees get and attend COVID-19 vaccination appointments, according to a news release. The bilingual service is free of charge.

The system was developed to cut the stress and time from the process of finding and securing a vaccine appointment. The concierge service, comprised of volunteer employees, offers a range of services including:

• Working with government agencies to secure multiple appointments.
• Helping employees navigate appointment sites.
• Providing appointment reminders.
• Sharing information on regulation updates to regulations and new vaccine sites.
• In some cases, reimbursement for transportation to vaccine sites.

Additionally, the company is giving $50 gift cards to all workers who get vaccinated.

"Since our restaurants and other facilities don't have a lot of employees at any one site, we don't qualify for workplace vaccination programs, which bigger companies can offer their employees," Uno CEO Erik Frederick said in the release. "Our employees are everything to us and we want to continue to put their health and safety first by making the process to secure a vaccine less cumbersome and daunting. We hope that every restaurant and food manufacturing company can help their employees in the same way. We're all in this together!"

The program was piloted the week of March 21 with employees at Uno Foods, the company's frozen pizza plant in Brockton, Massachusetts. It said that within days, the concierge service assisted 87% of the employees to secure vaccine appointments, many who have been eligible for some time but were unable to secure an appointment on their own.

Uno Pizzeria & Grill has 90 stores in 18 states, Washington, D.C., India, and Saudi Arabia.