Waynesville restaurant offering free toilet paper with orders

It’s TP Tuesday at Village Family Restaurant in Waynesville, where a $25 order will get you a free roll of “premium, 2-ply toilet paper.”

The promotion was the idea of owner Lacie Sims, who, like most restaurant owners, is trying to find ways to keep customers served and employees working through the coronavirus shutdowns.

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Sims has a staff of 40, and about half of them are servers. When the governor ordered restaurants to stop allowing dine-in eating, Sims says many of the servers volunteered to do delivery—something the restaurant has not done before. “Customers have been very generous with tips, which is wonderful, we just need more of those,” Sims told News Center 7.

The promotion has people talking, and liking on facebook. But, so far, business has not been brisk. Monday’s business was about 70% off a usual Monday, says Sims. “Stop clicking like on facebook and start ordering,” is her advice for customers. She says it’s important for the public to support restaurants at a time like this, so that the employees can keep working and the restaurants can still be in business when the shutdowns end. She says a couple of Tuesday’s first toilet paper-winning customers were regular supporters of the restaurant, and she appreciates all the community support.

By mid-day, she’d given out a half-dozen rolls.

The idea for the promotion started a week ago. “I went to the grocery store to buy milk for my restaurant, and I was struck at how my local Kroger was well stocked everywhere except toilet paper,” says Sims. “I thought, ‘this is silly, why are people hoarding, this is not a gastric issue.’” But as the week went on, she says toilet paper was what everyone was talking about in person and on social media. “I never thought I would have so many conversations about TP in my life,” she says. And then a fortunate event happened. A vendor had a case of 96 rolls of toilet paper. Sims says she had a thought that it could make for a silly promotion, or, if not, it would all be eventually be used. But as the week went on, and the toilet paper store shortage continued, she says the idea became clear: “We’re going to have a TP Tuesday!”

You can learn more about the promotion and the restaurant here.