A Beef O'Brady's in Hudson could potentially become the most vaccinated restaurant in Tampa Bay. Chris Overbeck, franchisee of a Pasco County Beefs located at 14851 SR-52, is offering his employees $100 each if they agree to get the coronavirus vaccine.
Overbeck and his wife—who kept paying employees even when the location closed last March and April—is offering the incentive because he knows the staff is the backbone of his business and wants them to be healthy.
A press release adds that “He also recognizes that guests will feel more comfortable coming back to Beef 'O' Brady's if they know the staff are vaccinated.”
The Tampa Bay Business Journal said that none of Overbeck’s 20 employees have taken him up on the offer yet, noting that most of them are too young to be eligible for the poke.
"The first thing I did was tell them, 'I don’t want to make you do it. I want you to understand why you should do it,'" Overbeck told TBBJ. “My hope is 100 percent will do it. My best guess is 40 percent will.”
The Hudson Beefs is not alone in its incentive. Publix is offering a $125 gift card to employees who get inoculated, and Dollar General wants its workers to take some money in exchange for a poke, too. And for the rest of us vaccinated folk whose employers won't shell out the dough, there's always Krispy Kreme.
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This article appears in Mar 18-24, 2021.