Lori Placzek believes it’s her duty as a businessperson to do whatever she can to help the community. Working with Saving Grace makes it easy for Placzek, partner at Runza’s LaVista store and managing partner of the 90th and Fort location, to do that.
Prior to partnering with Saving Grace, Placzek loaded up her car and drove surplus Runzas to a local shelter. “We were doing it on our own before Saving Grace became the pick-up service,” she says. “That takes one piece of the puzzle out because our lives are too busy.”
Placzek takes pride in how efficient her restaurants are with not wasting food. They do, however, donate Runzas. Because it takes 45 minutes to bake the sandwiches, managers must anticipate needs. Any Runzas left at the end of the day are frozen.
“We primarily donate frozen Runzas,” Placzek says. Beth Ostdiek Smith, Saving Grace CEO, said the surplus sandwiches go to shelters and after-school programs to use for their clients.
“If we can lessen the impact of people having to find a meal, then we have done our job,” Placzek says. “We have an avenue to contribute and make others’ lives easier.”