Marrow restaurant staff surprised with paid week off by Ford Lincoln

DETROIT (FOX 2) - The tables turn for an award-winning Detroit restaurant that's been paying it forward in the community. An automaker surprised the staff at 'Marrow' treating them to dinner -- and that's not all.

February 2020 was our best month and then the next month everything was turned upside down," said Ping Ho, the restaurant owner.  

The folks at Marrow on Detroit's east side morphed seven times during Covid from restaurant, to feeding the frontline to becoming a butcher shop only.  

"That was taking an entirely restaurant-based team and turning them into butchers overnight," said Sarah Welch. "Our bartender was slicing deli meat, our vegetarian GM was hauling meat from behind the counter."  

Welch is the executive chef and partner of the James Beard award-nominated spot, exhausted from it all, then - she got a phone call. 

On the other line was a representative from Ford Motor Co., specifically the Lincoln brand.  

"I was like, is this a joke?"  she said. "We got this phone call and I said this sounds like a scam, we probably shouldn't call back and our assistant GM, her name is Jess, and she said, 'Sarah we should try, maybe it's not a scam.'"  

It wasn't a scam at all - Lincoln wanted to pay for Marrow's employees to take a week off calling it 'Rest-aurant week.' 

"If there is anything 2020 and the first part of 2021 showed us is that we need to take opportunities to recharge," said Eric Peterson, Ford Lincoln.  

 And recharge they did, on Lincoln's dime. 

"We were all vaxed so I said I'm going to California to go to the beach and it was 45 degrees - it was actually warmer here," quipped Welch.  

But - it was still a paid vacation and when she came home, Lincoln threw a dinner for the staff to receive after giving so much.   

"The week away was great, but seeing the look on people's faces when I got to tell them it wasn't a joke, was the best ever," she said.