Family and the holidays are the main ingredients in a recipe that restaurant owner Attila Szabo shares with each of his employees every year.

The president and operating partner of the WildFin American Grill locations in Issaquah and Renton made the commitment to give his staff Thanksgiving and Christmas off before he ever opened for business three years ago.

“Being with your family on the holidays has always been something very sacred to me,” said Szabo. “People in the food service business work a lot of nights and weekends throughout the year. They all deserve to spend these two days surrounded by the people they love.”

Kristi VanWaveren is a server at the WildFin restaurant in Issaquah. She admitted that she has missed more than her share of family memories over the 25 years she has been in the hospitality industry and can remember several holidays when her family would get up early to open presents together so that she could be at work in the afternoon. She looks forward to Christmas morning this year with her husband and 10-year-old son in Snohomish.

Bellevue resident Phil Bratcher has only been with WildFin for about a year. He plans to take advantage of the rare day off this year on Thanksgiving to sit back and watch some football. Christmas Day will be an opportunity for him to establish holiday traditions with his wife of three years.

Both said they would gladly work one or both of the holidays in trade for another day off during the year. Bratcher said he would prefer having his birthday off. But his birthday is on New Year’s Eve, one of the busiest (and most profitable) nights of the year. Given the option, VanWaveren would choose to spend Mother’s Day being pampered at home by her family.