McDonald’s gives former employees a big surprise
Bentz couple from Waterloo receive socially distanced 30th wedding anniversary
WATERLOO — Greg and Carrie Bentz were just teenagers when they started working together in1982 at their local McDonald’s in Thunder Bay.
It was love at first cheeseburger.
They were married eight years later, relocated to Waterloo after a short stint in Toronto in the early 1990s, and just celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary Tuesday.
After all these years, Carrie said she still remembers those early days, yelling back orders to her soon-to-be husband as he silently obeyed from the grill.
“We always joke it was a match made in heaven because I got to tell him what to do,” she said with a long drawn-out laugh. “And he listened really well.”
The original plan for their 30th was to jump on a plane and head for a dream vacation in Italy this summer.
But, with COVID-19 halting the couple’s travel plans, their former employer stepped in to make for a memorable quarantine anniversary.
Through the work of their daughter, Kaitlyn Bentz, and two McDonald’s owner-operators — Rob Prober of Thunder Bay and Richard Cavanagh of Waterloo — the group began planning a surprise socially distanced anniversary party.
While the couple was out for the day Sunday playing golf, a group of McDonald’s employees quickly got to work in their backyard, setting up balloons and McDonald’s banners.
Their friends who they were golfing with, who were in on the plan, changed their game from 18 holes to nine to make sure they got home in time and didn’t have anything else planned.
“The need to get home sooner, which we later found out, was because this celebration was about to happen,” said Carrie. “Greg and I had no idea, our daughter did a fantastic job of keeping it all under wraps and working in the background with McDonald’s.”
The party came complete with both honoured guests’ favourite meals — Big Mac combos — and a myriad of chicken nuggets, cheeseburgers, fries and other McDonald’s favourites for the socially distanced friends and family who were able to make it.
A care package from staff at the Thunder Bay location on Red River Road was also tucked away in the spread.
“We just wanted to make sure that, although they’re not in Italy, they’re still able to celebrate their 30th anniversary,” said Sherry Mayo, operations manager at the Waterloo location, who helped organize the surprise.
It also checked off an important box for at least one family member.
Carrie said it’s her father, Wayne, who likely got the biggest kick out of the celebration. He had tried to urge the couple to get McDonald’s to sponsor their wedding 30 years earlier to no avail.
“So, having them show up and help us celebrate our 30th, I thought that was fantastic,” said Carrie.