Gabriella Cantu | National Beef – Dodge City, Kansas

For the past 10 years, Gabriella Cantu has helped start each day at National Beef before
most people arrive. Beginning work at 5:00 a.m., she prepares breakfast on the Fresh Grill,
serves customers as a cashier during breaks, then transitions into preparing lunch before
cleaning and getting ready for the next day. It’s a fast-paced role that requires organization,
creativity, and teamwork.

Gabriella says many people don’t realize how much coordination it takes to serve hundreds
of meals each day. “There are a lot of moving parts,” she explains, and everyone plays an
important role in making the operation successful. She enjoys experimenting with new
recipes on the Fresh Grill and loves seeing how food brings happiness to customers. Just as
meaningful to her are the friendships she’s built over the last decade and the way her
coworkers always step in to help one another.

One experience she’ll never forget came after her family lost everything in a house fire.
Gabriella recalls how VVS employees organized a raffle and rallied together to help her
family rebuild. “That makes me proud to be VVS family,” she says. It’s a reminder that the
relationships built at work often become much more than coworkers; they become family.