Friends Indeed is a weekly series by the Chattanooga Times Free Press to recognize acts of kindness during the coronavirus pandemic / Photo illustration by Matt McClane. The first line of Sarah Johnson's Facebook post sums it up: "Last week something really awesome happened here at Couch's!"
That's a strong statement for a small, family-owned restaurant that was days into a government mandate requiring restaurants to close their dining rooms and restrict service to delivery and/or takeout during the coronavirus.
Then Chris Higgins, a sales operations manager for Coca-Cola Bottling Co. United, came in with an order. He wanted food for 525 of the company's local employees.
Photo from Sarah Johnson / Malcolm Johnson, left, and Valerie Stiner pack bags to fill Couch's recent order for 525 meals. In back, Christy Levi works on another part of the order."The company wanted to order meals for their employees to take home and brought the order to a small business, knowing it would help out," Johnson's post continues.
Johnson and her husband, Malcolm, took over the restaurant from her father and brother last January. It's the biggest order the couple have filled to date, and it's one of the biggest in the barbecue restaurant's 74-year history, she says. Recent catering jobs have numbered "over 250 people, and we've done 300 people, but definitely nothing in the 500 range," she says.
Higgins' order piled on a pound of meat per person - 525 pounds total - plus a pint of baked beans, four hamburger buns and barbecue sauce with each order, according to Johnson. He placed it a few days out, giving Malcolm Johnson day and night shifts tending the fire pit at the Ooltewah-area restaurant.
Photo from Sarah Johnson / A Couch's Barbecue employee Mike Davis separates hamburger buns into bags of four for each of the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. United orders.Higgins says the plan is to provide meals to employees every Friday. It takes some of the load off the family cook, saves money for the employees and boosts local restaurants.
"Small businesses have supported us for 120 years," he says. "Anytime we can give back, we take the opportunity."
Sarah Johnson says the order was "enough to feed three to four people," as well as keep their five employees busy.
"It took all of us to get it done," she says. "My mom and dad came and helped too."
Johnson says business is "nowhere near what it ought to be for this time of year," but they're adjusting.
"We've always had a pretty decent carryout business," she says. "But this is definitely a change. It's a little bit melancholy seeing customers come in and stand around waiting for orders and not get to stay."
They've even brought back curb service, which the old-timers remember from years ago. "Customers still talk about that," she says.
Couch's is on a back road, Old Lee Highway, and doesn't get as much drive-by traffic as the cluster of newer franchise and locally owned restaurants that crowd Exit 11 off Interstate 75.
"Nobody drives on us much," she says.
But their regulars have stayed true. "They're still coming by and leaving my employees huge tips," she says. "They're giving us lots of positive encouragement. It's really meant the world to us."
And that quarter-ton of meat Coca-Cola gifted to its employees means they can breathe a little easier as they face the next few weeks, as can four other small local businesses that supply the restaurant.
"It was a lot of work, but it was a godsend too," Johnson says. "It was an amazing gift in so many ways in these hard times."
Contact Lisa Denton at ldenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6281.