Restaurant interior
Staff meal at Cobble Social House
If you've ever asked a restaurant to support your kid's soccer team, to donate gift cards to your fundraiser, to waive the fee on their private dining room for a good cause, or even to "fit you in" when there's no rezzies because you forgot your anniversary: the bill is due.
In this unprecedented time of the COVID shutdown, we've asked you to buy gift cards, do curbside takeout or delivery, and grab online merch from your favorite people in the industry. Keep doing that, but now think about stepping it up, seeing as a few hundred thousand workers lost their jobs yesterday, and caterers and restaurant owners lost their main stream of income.
Here are some ways to help that will make a difference. If you've heard of others, let us know! Send a note to dining@mspmag.com.
Virtual Tip Jar:
+ While you're home mixing a drink, or cooking your third pan of lasagna, think about all the great times when someone did that for you. Go ahead and dip into this list of affected servers, baristas, and bartenders and Venmo or Cashapp them a little tip. Easy. Painless.
+ Our friend Clever Kate O'Reilly has a roll call of hospitality workers in need on her Twitter post. Follow it, pick one, send a tip.
SUPPORT! FOR and WITH
+ Give blood get beer!! Surly Brewing has offered up the empty parking lot for a duo blood mobile set up Monday, March 23 from noon -5pm. Sign up, they'll keep you at all the right distances, and every donor will get a Surly pint glass, an MBC t-shirt, and a coupon for 25% off the BBQ take-out menu (expires March 27).
+ Hola Arepa, which is technically on hiatus, will be open this week selling SOS SALSA! 100% of the proceeds will go to support their rock star Hola Kitchen team. They'll be using excess produce to make fresh batches of chips & the most popular salsas on Wed, Mar 25. Preorder early and pickup curbside during select hours on Wed, Mar 25 - Fri Mar 27! This is a one-time event with chips & salsas only available until they sell out.
+ UPDATE: Chowgirls has issued a call for non-food item donations such as duct tape, hotel pans, aprons towels, cleaning supplies, etc. Please also consider helping out the folks at Second Harvest Heartland who are seeing a massive bump in traffic. Local restaurants Alma, The Bachelor Farmer, and Chowgirls Catering have come together with 2HH and Loaves & Fishes to create Minnesota's Central Kitchen.
+ If you want to support unemployed staff, and look cute doing it, check out the Pasta Unites t-shirt from i.e. Italian Eatery. By ordering this t-shirt, you'll be sending 100% of the proceeds to the 80 i.e. employees on furlough. Then, when the full-service returns, wear the shirt in and get a complimentary pasta dish!
+ Provision Community Restaurant, which was already doing the good work of cooking meals for people for free if needed, is going to a To-Go model. They'll have free boxed single serve meals ready to be grabbed on M-F 5:30-6:30.
+ Zen Box Izakaya is not only launching take out, but they are doing it in a pay-what-you-can format. Call ahead, order your tonkotsu ramen or bento box, and if you've lost your job and need a boost, give what you can. If you're secure and want to help others, pay more than full price.
+ Tenant, the small tasting menu shop in South Minny, has been running a pick up soup kitchen as a pay-what-you-can service. They served about 600 people this weekend, with quarts of soup and fresh sourdough, stay tuned for info on when the next run starts.
+ NEW! If you want to help restaurants keep more money in their coffers at this time, sign this petition: This petition is to persuade the state of Minnesota to allow any on-premise licensee (i.e. restaurants, bars, etc.) to sell closed containers for off-premise consumption, any alcoholic beverages that it is able to sell for on-premise consumption under the law.
So like if you go order ramen to go at Zen Box they could throw a few cans of beer in there too. SEEMS REAL SIMPLE, RIGHT GOV?
+ Project Black & Blue was started by Craftmade Aprons to help support industry workers in tough times. They've created a fund that is fed by the purchase of specific aprons, but now they are opening it up to all their aprons. With 50% of revenue from each apron sold going straight to the fund, it feels like you should be buying your Christmas gifts early. Service industry workers can nominate people who need to be considered for a financial gift
+ If you're getting pizza takeout from Pig Ate My Pizza, TIP LIKE A BOAR because all tips are being used to buy grocery gift cards for the recently unemployed Travailians.
+ Out in Victoria, Winchester & Rye is offering their entire menu for takeout (sans the rye), and since it's a community leader, they'll pledge 10% of your order to local food shelves.
+ Did you know you can support local bartenders during these tough times? Just throw a little donation into the USBG fund, and tenders in need can apply for grants. Shout out to Jameson which pledged $500,000 to the fund.
+ Or buy booze. Locally owned Crooked Water Spirits aren't just delicious, they're in the game. They'll donate 100% of profits in March to hospitality industry charities and non-profits to support their friends at this time.
+ Birchwood Cafe has always been a leader in the Love Your Farmer movement, and now they could use a little love. You might consider being part of their Community Supported Restaurant program, which is really an investment: invest $250, get $300 worth of Birchwood gift cards.
+ Food trucks are not faring any better, and Soul Lao could use some help staying afloat. Support the American Dream and give them a chance at another season, if only for that killer papaya salad.
+ Cute little Modern Times Cafe has put up a GFM looking for a little help getting through this.
Hiring:
+ Kowalski's, Lunds & Byerlys, Aldi have all put out calls for hiring to keep up with the sanitizing demands.
A reminder for anyone who needs help and support in theses tough times 211.org is an organization for you to find essential needs and crisis resources in this effed up world.
