Apr 5, 2021 Fast-food workers are pandemic heroes, too. To show some appreciation, the San Antonio-based Whataburger chain is awarding more than $90 million in bonuses to its 46,000 employees. That's an average of nearly $2,000 each. Employees “helped set record company performance numbers” for the year, the company said. It also gave workers emergency pay and doubled their retirement account match for 2020 as thanks for their extraordinary service.