As Michigan’s ban on indoor dining stretches on into the December holiday season, some area groups are reaching out to help small businesses and their employees survive.
Southfield-based Great Lakes Hotel Supply Co. owner Marc Israel teamed up with the Michigan Chefs de Cuisine Association to launch Local Love this week, a fundraiser to support those in the hospitality industry who are unemployed or underemployed right now because of COVID-19.
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Detroit News file photo of George Dimopoulos of Senate Coney Island in Northville. (Photo: The Detroit News)
Their goal is to raise $500,000 through March 1. Israel is asking both people and corporations to donate. The groups’ goal is to be able to distribute $2,500 to each business owner and $500 to individual employees.
“It is crystal clear that we must do something now to help our local restaurants survive,” he said in a statement this week announcing the fundraiser. “These folks are really in need and it’s vital that we help them.”
The first round of checks are expected to be cut as soon as next week, just before the Christmas holiday.
In order to be eligible to receive funds from this collection, businesses owners need to register themselves and their employees, and be a registered business in the state of Michigan. Enroll at glhsco.com/locallove.
Anyone can donate to the fund at charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/locallove.
Put your receipt to good use
Another supplier for the industry, Atlas Wholesale Food Company, will donate $100,000 worth of product to select area small businesses with their Rescue Michigan Restaurants initiative, which launched this week and runs through Christmas.
This donation requires the help of the dining public and a Facebook account.
After visiting a participating restaurant, post your receipt with the hashtag #RescueMIRestaurant as a public post on Facebook. Tag the restaurant and make sure the date and total order amount (including tax and tip) are part of the post.
Atlas Wholesale will match what you spent in the form of a product credit to that business. The 71-year-old Detroit-based company supplies produce, meat, cleaning products and other necessities to area restaurants.
Some of the eateries participating in #RescueMIRestaurant include Bangkok 96, Cedar Gardens, Senate Coney Island, Zukin’s Rib Shack, Nosh Pit, Sam’s Ferndale Grill and several locations of Detroit Wing Co., Lou’s Deli, Red Olive Restaurant and National Coney Island. Visit atlaswholesalefood.com for a complete list.
Dearborn’s Bangkok 96 is one of the participating restaurants in Atlas Wholesale’s Rescue Michigan Restaurants initiative. (Photo: Courtesy of Bangkok 96)
More fundraisers
The Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association has an ongoing Hospitality Industry Employee Relief Fund, which dispersed 300 boxes of food Thursday to families of unemployed workers affected by the state’s shutdown of dine-in service. Learn more at mrlaef.org/relief-fund.html.
A group called the Service Industry Workers of the Ann Arbor Area have launched a GoFundMe page to help collect money for restaurant workers in that area. The goal is set at $5,000, which will be dispersed on Dec. 22 among unsalaried wage workers who have worked in a bar, restaurant or cafe in Washtenaw County in the past year. Find it at gofundme.com/f/4nc2v-siwa3-holiday-fundraiser.
Local cocktail blogger Nick Britsky launched GoTipEm.com at the start of the pandemic to help bartenders who are out of work. The website is a database organized by state and includes the Venmo, PayPal or CashApp info for hundreds of mixologists, cocktail crafters and bartenders who have had their livelihood affected by the pandemic.
Twitter: @melodybaetens
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