Domino’s Chinchilla provides locals safe, hot meals as town prepares to evacuate

When an emergency alert was issued for the small town of Chinchilla forcing local residents to sandbag their homes and businesses, Domino’s Store Manager Atul Chhabra sprang into action.

“On Wednesday night, the Queensland Fire and Emergency Service issued a warning that heavy rainfall and rising floodwaters at Charleys Creek (which peaked at more than 5 metres), may cause some properties to be at risk of flooding.

“The next morning we acted immediately, moving as much equipment from the store as we could to higher ground, either storing it at my house or my Assistant Store Managers house.

“I’m so glad we acted when we did because it all happened so quickly. Within 45 minutes we noticed water started to fill up the back carpark and make its way into the store. As we finished moving the final piece of equipment, we realised the entire front carpark had gone under,” he said.

Feeling tension and panic rise within the community as locals desperately raced to prepare for the flood, Atul and the team at Domino’s Chinchilla decided to lend a helping hand in the best way they knew they could: free pizza.

“We published a post in our local community Facebook group letting everyone know that if they needed a meal during this stressful time, we could help.

“In just a few hours, we had given away more than 400 pizzas to locals in need, and donated even more pizzas to the doctors and nurses at the local hospital, and the SES.

“The reaction from the local community was incredibly humbling. We had a lot of people sending us messages of thanks, telling us to stay safe, and even offers to help us move our equipment back into the store when flood waters receded!

“None of what we achieved would have been possible without the support of my team and franchisee, Alyson Horne, who has always encouraged us to ‘do the right thing, because it’s the right thing to do’, and give back to people in need.”

In times of crisis and natural disasters, Domino’s prides itself on being the last kitchen to close and the first to re-open – committed to providing those in need with a safe, hot meal (where it is safe to do so).

Ahead of the upcoming Australian bushfire season, Domino’s ‘Feed the Knead’ program is here to help Aussies doing it tough.

If you know an individual, business or charity in "knead", simply fill out a nomination form on the Domino’s website and we’ll do what we can to help: https://www.dominos.com.au/feed-the-knead