Mt. Pleasant Hy-Vee employee receives Legendary Customer Service Award

MT. PLEASANT — The customer service area looked a bit different at Mt. Pleasant Hy-Vee Friday afternoon as many helpful smiles excitedly decked-out the area with decorations to celebrate one of their very own receiving the 2023 Hy-Vee Legendary Customer Service Award.

A large crowd filled with current and former co-workers, family, friends, and community members erupted in cheers as John Ita, a Hy-Vee employee of more than 50 years, walked through the doors with District Store Director Willy Amos.

As Ita entered the store for what he thought was just another catering shift, his eyes began to fill with tears as he saw decorations announcing his receipt of the Legendary Customer Service award.

According to Hy-Vee Senior Communications Manager Nola Aigner Davis, “This award is the highest honor presented to a Hy-Vee employee. It recognizes those who go above and beyond every day to help customers and provide them with exemplary service. This year, only 14 recipients were selected from among more than 80,000 Hy-Vee employees.”

“The Legendary Customer Service Award is the highest award given in our company,” Amos said. “This program starts in 2006. We've got 165 employees that have been honored with this award since its inception. John is the first, but not the last from Mt. Pleasant.”

According to a letter from Hy-Vee CEO Jeremy Gosch, the nomination letter for Ita contained stories from his co-workers that told how he demonstrates caring, honesty, integrity, and respect day in and day out.

“You inspire, motivate, lead and support your co-workers and most importantly you impact the lives of countless other through your helpful smile,” the letter said. “On behalf of myself and our fellow 80,000 employees, I am grateful that you are part of our Hy-Vee family.”

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According to Amos, it took some work to keep the big news under wraps from such a dedicated employee.

“Basically, we told him that we needed him to come in to help with a catering order and that they wanted him there, which isn’t a big surprise,” Amos said. “The problem is, we told John 2:30. Well, John comes in like an hour before work. So, we had to go back and say, ‘hey they pushed it back an hour.’”

In order to keep the secret, the store planned the event around Midwest Old Threshers so Ita’s family could easily be around and they even encouraged a little misinformation to throw him off the scent that he was selected for the award.

“We were pretty excited when we got the news that John got this,” Amos said. “I had planted a seed in one of our departments to kind of put it in John’s mind that he probably didn’t get it this year because had recipient in Iowa City.”

The plan worked. Ita said he had no idea because he had heard someone else say that somebody else won it.

Amos, along with Ita’s other co-workers, couldn’t help but beam as he expressed how he felt Ita was very deserving of the award.

“I'm super proud and excited for John,” Amos said. “One, because he deserves it. And two, because this right here is what the Hy-Vee family is all about. Customer service and a helpful smile in every aisle.”

“It’s a real honor,” Ita said with a large grin stretched across his face.

Ita says after his many years working in the Mt. Pleasant Hy-Vee, his favorite part of his job is all the “fantastic employees,” he has worked with.

“And the loving customers, too, that I pick on sometimes,” he said with a laugh. “That’s kind of the fun thing of it.”

“I've got tell you that there isn't a single person in Mt. Pleasant that doesn't know John Ita and his family,” Amos said.

Max Huston, who worked alongside Ita when he worked in the meat department, agreed.

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“John was always the first person up to help the counter whenever someone needed help,” Ita’s co-worker Max Huston said. “He made the job easier and he definitely always has a positive attitude. I’ve never seen a manager like him.”

Along with the surprise ceremony and honor of the award itself, Amos presented Ita with new gold name tags with the new title and a $300 gift certificate to use with his family for the remaining days of Old Threshers.

“John also will receive a very nice gold ring with a red stone in it,” Amos said. “And to me, the most exciting part is that John is going to have his picture on a Hy-Vee semi.”

Additionally, Ita will be honored with the other recipients at a luncheon in November.

Regional Vice President Kyle Thornsbrough also presented Ita with the opportunity to take a trip wherever he wanted to go to celebrate the honor.

While Ita wasn’t quite sure where he would go for that trip, he didn’t hesitate to hop on a trailer pulled by a tractor and head back to Old Threshers with his family following the ceremony instead of putting in a shift for catering.

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Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com