Since the ban on dining in, Southern California restaurants have fallen on hard times. Sales dropped off the cliff. Chefs laid off staff. Managers deferred their salaries. Meanwhile, bills from landlords, vendors and utility companies were stacking up.
But instead of asking for handouts, many restaurants began lending a helping hand.
• James Beard award-winning chef Nancy Silverton turned Chi Spacca in Los Angeles into a relief center, dishing up free meals and giving away diapers, toilet paper, canned goods and supplies to restaurant workers and their families.
• Chains such as McDonald’s, Smashburger, Firehouse Subs, The Habit Burger and Tropical Smoothie started offering discounts, giveaways and opportunities to donate meals for health care workers and first responders.
• Mom-and-pop restaurants set up freebie Fridays with meals for seniors, students and others.
For a workforce accustomed to a fast-paced world, a sudden halt in the action was a shock to the system. The freeze created an opportunity to pause and take stock. Charles Watson, CEO of Tropical Smoothie, which has locations throughout Southern California and in nearly every state in the union, said that’s how a 100,000-drink giveaway to healthcare workers and first responders came about.
He and his chairman had a quick discussion about how to get more smoothies in the hands of customers during the crisis and they decided that instead of sitting still they would just give them away. “It’s an industry that’s certainly had many ups and downs and we’re not afraid of a fight,” Watson said. “And when you combine that with the country needs this? I think that’s ultimately what’s driving a lot of this. We want to be busy.”
So does Allan Tea, owner of Hello Kitty Cafe and dim sum palace Capital Seafood in Irvine. He simply can’t stop working, and these acts of charity are motivated by a fundamental desire to serve. “For restaurant people what comes first is hospitality,” he said. “It’s customers first before anything else. Owners, chefs, management and staff, that’s what they do day-to-day is make people happy,” he said.
Tea prefers not to dwell on sliding sales. Instead he’s working quickly to help his employees and those at small restaurants who live paycheck to paycheck. He immediately started a side business delivering frozen dumplings. He’ll have to sell $30,000 worth of dumplings to give away $10,000, but he’s confident. He sold $5,000 the first day. “If I can help 30, 40 or 50 families it’s worth it,” he said.
Other restaurateurs have grander plans. Everytable’s founder/CEO Sam Polk, found that the needs of the crisis fit squarely into his mission: Making healthy food affordable for everyone. At nine locations in Los Angeles County, Everytable offers items such as soups, salads, wraps and bowls priced to the neighborhood, $7-$8 in Brentwood, $5-$6 in Compton.
The restaurant has always offered a pay-it-forward program but since the crisis, it has set up a helpline to reach out to companies, community organizations and others in Los Angeles to provide food and resources to those experiencing food insecurity, those who need relief and anyone having trouble accessing food. It has also developed a program through Santa Monica College to provide boxed meals to students in need.
It has been working with Dignity Health, United Way of Greater Los Angeles, the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority and has provided more than 8,000 healthy and fresh meals to more than 1,300 residents at 13 shelter sites. The programs — which offer some free meals, and others paid for by the city of Los Angeles — just keeps growing, Polk says.
“The reason we set up the helpline is because we had this sense that there were going to be so many people, specifically seniors, stuck without food,” Polk said. “We started getting calls not only from the seekers themselves but also tons of social workers who were looking for help for their clients. Then the government agencies also started calling and that was when it started to snowball.”
Polk, a former hedge fund trader who dropped out of Wall Street to fight the issue of neighborhood food deserts without access to fresh, healthful cuisine, has a bird’s eye view of the situation. “All of the infrastructure for feeding people was built around people going to places like food banks and soup kitchens. But nobody has grappled with a structure where people are not allowed to leave their homes.”
National chains are offering discounts and giveaways for first responders and health care workers.
Beginning Thursday, April 2, McDonald’s Southern California franchisees will offer free breakfast to first responders at more than 700 locally owned and operated restaurants in Southern California. All health-care workers, police officers and firefighters with a valid ID or uniform are eligible to receive a free small coffee and Egg McMuffin sandwich during breakfast hours at participating McDonald’s restaurants in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Ventura and Imperial counties.
“We’ve been inspired by the commitment of our first responders working tirelessly to keep our communities safe,” said Paul Tulaphorn, McDonald’s franchisee and association president of the local McDonald’s owner operators group in an announcement released to the media.
But shelter-in-place restrictions have also forced a grass-roots movement to spring up among independent restaurant owners and chefs. When the Orange Home Grown Farmers Market shut down because of the coronavirus crisis, baker Dean Kim, who typically makes bread to spec for fine dining rooms, opened his doors. He started with a popup shop, then added a coalition of chefs and vendors offering free meals for health care workers.
“A group of local chefs is offering those on the front line at local Urgent Care and Emergency Rooms a free meal to take to their family,” read the most recent announcement. “As their way of showing appreciation, Break of Dawn Chef/Owner Dee Nguyen, OC Baking Company Baker/Owner Dean Kim, and Crema Artisan Cafe Baker/Owner Tarit Tanjasiri will offer these local heroes the opportunity to pick up home-made chicken noodle soup, a loaf of fresh-baked bread and a decadent gourmet cookie.”
In Newport Beach, restaurateur Mario Marovic has been giving away toilet tissue or selling it at cost. In Fountain Valley The Recess Room is providing free meals on Fridays for students and seniors.
In Fullerton, Chef Imran “Ali” Mookhi of Khan Saab Desi Craft Kitchen, a halal kitchen, began passing out hot vegan meals and bags of rice and lentils each Friday.
He has been asked to extend the program to the city of Corona where he’ll be dishing up meals at City Hall on Friday, April 3. It’s not just a life of service that inspires him, it’s also a higher calling. “It’s part of my growing up with the culture of being Muslim,” he said. “Back home every Friday there was a prayer that I would go to,” he said. “After the prayer my dad would take us to this restaurant where we could help provide meals for people who were in need.”
Mookhi grew up in Pakistan and came to the U.S. alone at 17, sleeping at the airport or in bus stations until he made a friend who got him a job as a dishwasher.
“When I see people who need help it always brings back memories,” he said “I don’t want people to go through that. Whatever I can do to help people, I’m always there.”
Here’s a sampling of places to find help, or to donate to those who need help, from restaurants in Southern California.
Corona
City Hall: Chef Imran “Ali” Mookhi will give out 500 free meals from 2-5 p.m. on Friday, April 3 at Corona City Hall, 400 S. Vicentia Ave., Corona.
Chino Hills
Cali Dumpling Delivery: Deliveries every Tuesday and Thursday for orders placed 24 hours in advance. Free delivery with purchase of $80 or more to Anaheim, Brea, Chino Hills, Costa Mesa, Cypress, Diamond Bar, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Hacienda Heights, Huntington Beach, Rowland Heights, Irvine, Newport Beach, Orange, Santa Ana, Tustin, Walnut, West Covina, Yorba Linda. Email requests to orders@calidumplingdelivery.com. For menus visit calidumplingdelivery.com.
Fountain Valley
The Recess Room: Call ahead and provide your name and estimated time of arrival between noon and 4 p.m. on Fridays. Volunteers will bring your order out to you, curbside. Senior citizens may send a family member or friend to pick up food, or The Recess Room can deliver within Fountain Valley city limits.714-377-0398, 18380 Brookhurst St., Fountain Valley; therecessroom.com.
Fullerton
Khan Saab Desi Craft Kitchen: Will be distributing bags of rice and lentils as well as free meals from 4- 7 p.m. each Friday. 229 E. Commonwealth Ave., Unit A, Fullerton, khansaaboc.com.
Glendale and Monterey Park
The Habit Burger: Will roll its trucks out to locations around Southern California to provide complimentary meals for health care workers. The next events are on Thursday, April 2 at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital 1812 Verdugo Blvd., Glendale; Garfield Medical Center; 525 N. Garfield Ave., Monterey Park.
Los Angeles
Mozza: Visit the Relief Center at Mozzaplex where Nancy Silverton has raised funds and received contributions from Maker’s Mark and the Lee Initiative to provide free meals and supplies to restaurant workers and their families. Bring a paystub or other proof of restaurant employment. 6610 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles. To donate supplies, email Kate Green at kgreen@pizzeriamozza.com.
Everytable: Call the helpline if you’re food insecure, in need, or having trouble accessing meals, 323-458-6487.
Orange
Dean Kim and company will offer meals for healthcare workers from 8 a.m. -2 p.m. and 5 p.m. -8 p.m. Monday-Friday at OC Baking Company, 1960 N. Glassell St., Orange. Those interested in assisting in feeding local health-care workers may contact Dee Nguyen at dee.breakofdawn@gmail.com.
Rancho Santa Margarita and Yorba Linda
The Blind Pig: Will hand out 50 free kids lunch box meals per location daily, limited to three per household, per day. Call the day before to reserve. 31431 Santa Margarita Parkway in Rancho Santa Margarita, 949-888-0072; 4975 Lakeview Ave. in Yorba Linda, 714-485-2593, theblindpigoc.com.
Temecula
Firehouse Subs: Firehouse Subs franchisees Marsha Chatterjee and Becsy Peraji partnered with Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation to donate 80 meals to the Temecula Fire Department. Their restaurant is located at 26480 Ynez Road., Ste B., Temecula. Donations to the Foundation can be made at any Firehouse Subs restaurant or online at firehousesubsfoundation.org/donate/.
