After being on the job for eight years Perkins still finds fulfillment. | Monica Tso/The Daily Cougar
The University Center Satellite Chick-fil-A may attract a long line of hungry Cougars throughout the school year, but cook supervisor Don Perkins ensures a friendly environment with quality food for every customer.
Perkins worked at Chili’s Too Grill & Bar on campus before its manager moved the restaurants best workers to Chick-fil-a. He has served students and supervised a team of hard-working cooks for eight years.
“The managers are wonderful, the other employees are wonderful and the students are wonderful,” Perkins said. “I love working here.”
The company swaps managers every two or three years, but Perkins has a positive, open mind when it comes to understanding changes on the job.
“I have managers who arrive on campus early to make breakfast for us,” he said. “They really try to make a fun environment, and it helps us want to come to work every day.”
One of the biggest challenges for Perkins is getting a raise, and he’s confident that his team is able to find solutions to minor trouble.
“Besides that, we always find ways to solve the problem without having to go to the big manager,” Perkins said. “We all get along very well, and we make sure everyone has fun to make time go by faster.”
When he’s not in the kitchen, Perkins is a mechanic at a car shop on the weekends, and he describes himself as a “busy-body.”
During the summer, he continues to serve students who crave the chain’s popular waffle fries and chicken sandwiches, even after the Satellite closes at 2 p.m., to assure satisfaction.
“The students are wonderful,” Perkins said. “They always crack jokes, and they want to get to know us and become friends. After all these years, I have absolutely no complaints about this job.”
Although he enjoys working at Chick-fil-a, he has other plans.
“I’ve got many dream jobs, and I want to open my own business,” Perkins said. “I’m looking into a program here at UH for craning. Even if I complete craning school, the employees and staff here are like my family, so I can’t just leave them. I would have to find a balance between the two jobs.”
