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How to Support Restaurants Right Now

How to Support Restaurants Right Now

Today's blog is a share of some highlights from Bon Appetit's article circa March 17th (boy, that feels like an eternity ago) with some wonderful ideas of how to support local businesses through the economic crisis caused by the COVID19 pandemic. We've removed non-profits and organizations that don't apply to our California indusutries. We hope that you will take a moment to truly emphathize with our local restaurant industry and consider what the future of our community could look like (and taste like) without them.

In addition to the resources recommended by Bon Appetit, here are a few North Bay resources and non-profits that support those with food insecurity, our local agricultural infrastructure, and/or the restaurant economy.

Ceres Community Project (LOCAL)

Sonoma County Food Recovery Coalition (LOCAL)

Council on Aging (LOCAL)

Redwood Empire Food Bank (LOCAL)

Corazon Healdsburg (LOCAL)

FEED Sonoma is working with local farms to build a box to feed the whole family (LOCAL)

Curbside pick up at Sonoma County Farmer's Markets 

Petaluma, Tues 10am-1:30pm

Santa Rosa, Wed 9am-1pm

Sebastopol, Sun 10am-1:30pm

Bountiful Shelter In Place Resources courtesy of Sonoma County Farm Trails

Sonoma Magazine's comprehensive list of local restaurants offering adapted services

How to Support Restaurants and Their Workers Right Now

As city and state governments impose curfews, limit the capacities of establishments, and close bars and restaurants entirely, we’re asking a lot questions: Will the restaurants we know and love be able to reopen in a post-virus world? How will the cooks, servers, bussers, and bartenders who staff those restaurants make it through the coming weeks and months with no income?

The people who have fed us when we’ve needed comfort, popped bottles for us when we’ve had cause to celebrate, and brought pizza to our doorstep every other night of the week need relief, and fast. So we’ve put together this list of resources for anyone who wants to support restaurants, bars, and their staff during this unprecedented time. We want to be clear—it will take more than buying a t-shirt to save the restaurant industry. Whether or not you have the resources to make a donation or buy a gift card, contact your elected officials and tell them not to forget about the restaurant industry. Here's what else you can do to help:

Donate to an Existing Non-Profit

If you want to support service workers whose livelihoods have been disrupted, there are several existing organizations—both regional and national—that provide aid to those in the restaurant industry. Many of these nonprofits have set up specific COVID-19 funds, and they have infrastructure and administration already in place.

Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund (National)

One Fair Wage (National)

Big Table (Seattle, Spokane, and San Diego)

The James Beard Foundation Relief Fund (National)

The United States Bartenders' Guild COVID-19 Relief Campaign (National)

CORE: Children of Restaurant Employees (National)

Restaurants Care (California)

Golden Rule Charity (National)

Order Takeout or Delivery

Not all restaurants are closed! Many have switched to takeout or delivery only. Find out which restaurants are still operating in your neighborhood using one of these guides and, if you can, tip generously:

Resy’s City Guide to Takeout and Delivery Options (Resy, the restaurant reservation platform, is now allowing users to “book” a meal for takeout or delivery. They are waiving their fees.)

Dining at a Distance in the San Francisco Bay Area

Grubhub has suspended fees for their restaurant partners, and proceeds from their Donate the Change program are going to the Grubhub Community Relief Fund.

Buy Merch!

This is a great time to show your support for your favorite restaurant, bar, or coffee shop by buying some merch. If you’ve been wearing the same ratty shirt for five days in a row, switch it up! Maybe you need a new tote bag to carry your belongings from one room of your apartment to the other room of your apartment. Wear new hat to your next Zoom meeting and your boss need never know that you’re not wearing pants. 

Buy Your Favorite Restaurant's Products Online

Some of your favorite restaurants sell their sauces, jams, and relishes online. You’re cooking at home, and they need some income; it’s a win-win.

Order a Gift Card...and Save It For Later

Gift cards! Not just for awkward office holiday gift exchanges. Show your favorite restaurants some love now and cash in later, when we'll all be relearning how to dine in public. Give restaurant gift cards to all your friends with spring birthdays in the hopes that they'll eventually take you out to dinner! If you don't see the option to purchase a gift card on your fave restaurant's website, slide into their DMs and demand they take your money.

Restaurants participating in the Dining Bonds Initiative are offering gift certificates that work like a savings bond. You buy a bond for less than the face value, redeemable at some point in the future.

Rally for Restaurants is a campaign to encourage diners to buy gift cards, and they will donate one dollar for every social media post to the Restaurant Workers' Community Foundation and World Central Kitchen.

Take Action

Every gift card helps, but what the restaurant workers and the hospitality industry really need is the kind of large-scale relief that can only come from the government. A movement is starting to build across the country to agitate for everything from stimulus packages to rent forgiveness. A few emerging coalitions and activist organizations are below, but you can also contact your elected representatives directly and tell them that restaurants and their employees need help as much as the airlines and large corporations.

American Chefs Petition

Donate to a Relief Fund

Dozens of ad hoc coalitions and relief funds have sprung up to address the immediate needs of workers in specific cities and regions. These efforts range from GoFundMe pages with in-depth descriptions of how funds will be distributed to spreadsheets with Venmo usernames of restaurant workers in need. Some of these more informal fundraising networks are partnering with larger organizations—including ones mentioned above—to disburse funds while some are creating their own models.

Reach Out Directly

Many small, family-owned restaurants have neither merch nor digital gift cards to sell, and they might not be in the extended networks of the organizers of GoFundMe campaigns. How do we help the most vulnerable workers at, say, shuttered restaurants in Chinatown? Kevin Finch, the executive director of Big Table, recommends contacting the manager or owner of a favorite neighborhood restaurant and asking, “Who on your staff is most in need? Can I help that one person?” Finch says, “If you’re trying to make sure the most vulnerable don’t slip through the cracks, it’s not rocket science. It’s old-fashioned connection, person to person.”