Burger King Cook Who Never Missed a Day of Work in 27-Year Career Chooses New Path After Chain Gives Mediocre Gift
Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.
At its best and most idealistic, the American Revolution elevated people whom tyrants and aristocrats had long considered disposable.
Today, while many workers still have good reasons to feel disposable, a nation built on Christian values like humility, generosity and work ethic can nonetheless provide unique opportunities, even to a veteran fast-food cook who neither sought nor expected them.
According to TMZ, Burger King cook Kevin Ford, who went viral in 2022 when management “honored” his 27 years of unbroken service to the company by giving him a lame gift bag, has used the proceeds from a subsequent and wildly successful crowdfunding campaign to purchase a new food truck.
Ford, who still works at Burger King, had never missed a day of work in 27 years. He told TMZ, however, that he hopes the new food truck will allow him to leave the fast-food chain before his 30th anniversary with the company in May 2025.
According to the New York Post, Ford’s managers at the Burger King in Las Vegas’s McCarran International Airport marked their faithful employee’s big anniversary in 2022 by giving him a backpack that contained candy, chocolate, a Starbucks cup and a movie ticket.
As insulting as that sounds, Ford did not indulge in bitterness.
Instead, his outraged daughter Seryna created a GoFundMe to help the father who had sacrificed much to help her.
“He originally began working at this job as a single father when he gained custody of me and my older sister 27 years ago,” she wrote in the 2022 appeal.
“Then as our family grew and he remarried, he continued to work there because of the amazing health insurance that was provided through this employer because it was unionized. This got all four of his daughters through high school and college with full healthcare coverage.”
Seryna set an initial goal of $200. As of Aug. 22, Ford’s GoFundMe has raised $461,870.
Best of all, one cannot watch or listen to Ford without developing the deepest admiration.
For instance, Ford made an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show after Seryna’s GoFundMe initiative raised enough money for him to buy a plane ticket and visit his family for the first time in years — a reunion that occurred on the show.
“I feel like the whole world lifted me up,” Ford said in a clip posted to the social media platform X.
Kevin Ford went 27 years without missing a single day of work at a Las Vegas Burger King. As a reward, he was only given a movie ticket and candy.
His daughter, upset by this, set up a GoFundMe which has now reached over $400k. pic.twitter.com/GIHTz9V1cM
— Las Vegas Issues (@VegasIssues) February 18, 2023
Meanwhile, in an interview with Fox News, Ford attributed his remarkable work ethic to his late mother and father.
“He handed it down. He had seven kids,” Ford said of his father, a U.S. Air Force veteran.
“And my mom, while he was stationed in other places, was working, was always taking care of us, so it’s from my parents,” he added.
Then, he acknowledged something special about his and his family’s story.
“It’s just an American thing. It’s an American story,” Ford said.
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Dedication X 10.
Would Kevin be a a GREAT speaker for a high school graduation?Kevin Ford, a Burger King cook, works for 27 years without missing.
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/LlWcbjhwB0
— American Values Investments, Inc. (@Values1776) August 24, 2023
Indeed, Ford’s “American story,” much like the eternal body of Christ, stretches across time.
In the final paragraph of his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “The Radicalism of the American Revolution,” legendary historian Gordon S. Wood celebrated the Revolution’s “real earthly benefits” for “the hitherto neglected and despised masses of common laboring people.”
At one time, of course, Ford had good reasons to feel neglected and despised.
Now, however, thanks to his humility and work ethic, along with strangers’ generosity, his story personifies America at its best.
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