Burger King Franchisee of the Year Gives $120,000 in Winnings to Employees

— -- Tom Barnett would have walked off with a brand new Corvette and a Rolex for winning Burger King’s 2014 Franchisee of the Year.

“I wasn’t the one who cleaned the bathroom last week, though, and I wasn’t the one who worked two shifts because someone was sick,” Barnett told ABC News.

So instead of keeping them, Barnett, the owner of 24 locations in the Phoenix, Arizona area, along with his business partner Shelley Krispin, sold the gifts for $60,000, decided to double the money themselves and gave it all back to managers in the form of bonuses.

“I want to honor my employees and I didn’t think it would be very honoring of my employees if I said, ‘Hey I’m driving my new Corvette and Rolex – thank you for your work!’” he said.

About 100 employees got the bonuses that ranged from several hundred to $5,000.

“It was tearful. People were stunned,” Barnett said. “People were saying things like, ‘Wow, I paid off my car, I got caught up on my rent and I helped my mom with her medical bills.’”

Burger King said it was actions like these that made Barnett their franchisee of the year.

“Tom is an excellent franchisee, business man and role model,” Burger King’s president of North America Alex Macedo told ABC News. “He won his franchisee of the year award for these reasons. We are proud of the contributions he makes to our brand and our system every day and look forward to his partnership for many years to come.”

Barnett knew it was the right decision by his employee’s reactions. General manager Nallely Hernandez was not expecting that to happen when she was called into a managers meeting.

“I appreciate what he’s doing for us, because you never expect your boss will give you recognition for your job,” she told ABC News.

Hernandez said she’ll use the money to help with her bills, much like her coworkers.

“It makes me feel great that I can share and encourage other people,” Barnett said. “One young man had only worked for us for a month and he said, ‘I’ll earn this going forward.’”