Wow's All the Way Around! CiCi's Raves about Richmond, IN

 This note was just received from our CiCi's partner Dudley Harris:

As everyone knows the Midwest was hit with a massive storm last week.  According to all reports the coldest it has been in Indiana in 40 years.  From the beginning everyone here knew they had a rough week ahead and I have several WOWS’  for everyone.

1^st - The warehouse performed smoothly, without complaint and never missed a lick during this whole trying ordeal.  Thanks go out to Margarito Aguirre, Juan Aguirre, Raul Roubles, Marion Harris & Jeff Cook. 

2^nd - The drivers on our Sunday routes came in early and beat the severe part of this storm.  All stores were delivered on time.  Thanks go out to Charley Hill, Tim Plavsic & Andy Flowers.  A job well done.

3^rd - The one route heading into the storm we held back 18 hours to let the storm pass before he came in on Monday.  The temperature was -10 on Monday with wind chills of -21.  All the tractors were struggling to stay running because the fuel was freezing in the fuel tanks.  Many of the roads were closed on his route.  Cars and trucks were stranded or abandoned in the middle of the highway for most of this trek across Indiana.  CiCi’s restaurants were either closed or not doing any business if they were open.  Thanks to Mark Harmeyer our stores in Indiana and Illinois got there product only 24 hours late.  The roads were very tricky and Mark had to use all his exprience and driving expertise to navigate the hazards the last few days.

4^th – Our route heading to Missouri, Iowa & Minnesota left 8 hours late but due to the great driving skills of Keith Green his stores are being delivered as rapidly has he can legally and safely make his way across the Midwest.  The temperature where he is delivering is subzero with wind chills of -30 degrees.  In Minnesota it is -50 wind chill.

5^th – A big thanks go out to Tony Flowers who had the unenviable task of delivering upstate New York.  He was able to deliver Erie, Pennsylvania before all roads going into New York were shut down due to lake affect snow (12 to 15 inches).  Tony took his federally mandated 10 hours off and the roads were still closed.  Instead of sitting all day Tony with the help of Dallas Mudd, J B Hunt manager in Richmond, came up with an alternative plan to service our restaurants.  To prevent all the stores on the route from getting their product late.  On the fly they reversed the route.  Tony was able to bypass Rochester and Watertown and delivered all the other stores on his route on time or early before he went back to Watertown.  To give you a feel for what he is dealing with Rochester and Watertown got approximately 24 inches of snow in a 48 hour period.   The roads are still closed going into Rochester so Tony is waiting until they open to deliver this store.  A BIG WOW and thanks to Tony for all his hard work.

6^th – A BIG WOW goes out to Dallas Mudd, Richmond’s own manager, who throughout this ordeal has stayed on top of every aspect of the operation.  He has gotten the tractors running when they were frozen up.  He has gotten our trailers working when they were just plain obstinate.  He kept the drivers informed of road conditions when necessary.  He kept me informed of events has they happened.   He put in countless hours at work and home keeping up with everyone and working diligently with the drivers to see that the stores were going to be taken care of in a timely fashion.  Dallas and Marion were constantly on the phone letting franchisees and managers know where their driver was and when he would be at their store.  I have to take my hat off to the CiCi’s community up here they were very understanding and cooperative during this whole ordeal.  I have not heard of one cross word being said or anyone getting upset and angry.