As one of the hardest-hit industries affected by the coronavirus pandemic, restaurants are tightening their belts more than ever. For instance, native Texan Tilman Fertitta, the owner of hundreds of restaurants including Bubba Gump Shrimp and Del Frisco’s, furloughed 40,000 employees last week. And throughout Texas, up to 1 million service workers could lose their jobs in the next three months.
Their own challenges notwithstanding, a handful of restaurant groups are leading with charity at this time. In the past two weeks, Front Burner Restaurants and 8020 Concepts have launched free meal programs for laid-off service industry workers, or for anyone out of a job due to the virus.
And this week, more local eateries will step up by giving away food and drinks — including beers — to the world’s most valuable and critically essential employees at this time: hospital workers. They are the helpers Mister Rogers trained us to keep our eyes on when the news is scary. Fred Rogers’ widow, Joanne Rogers, told the Los Angeles Times recently that she believes her husband would impart the same “look for the helpers” wisdom in response to the coronavirus if he were alive today.
Unrelated to Fred and Joanne Rogers, Luke Rogers is the new executive chef at Savor in Klyde Warren Park. He entered the role last year with previous experience as an apprentice to Nobel Peace Prize nominee José Andrés and an executive chef at Sofitel Philadelphia. He says when deciding with Savor’s owners on how to best serve during this crisis, they agreed to target hospital workers. Rogers equates everyone working in hospitals — surgeons, nurses, assistants, janitors and cooks — to soldiers, saying, “This is a war against a disease, and they are on the frontlines of this war.” On March 31, he will donate 100 pasta meals to UT Southwestern staff as a way to “bring light” to those who are serving others most right now.
In addition, today, in honor of National Doctors’ Day, Savor will offer 50% off to-go meals for doctors with a hospital badge. Call-ahead orders will be delivered at the valet stand on Woodall Rodgers.
FreeRange Concepts, the operating group behind The Rustic, ran a special last week where customers could purchase a Nashville-style hot chicken and cheese sandwich as a gift to hospital workers. For every sandwich purchased at their three Rustic locations in Texas, FreeRange matched donations with an additional sandwich. Kylee Kimosh, the entertainment director for FreeRange Concepts, says the Uptown Dallas location is in the process of delivering 2,200 sandwiches to Parkland Hospital staff in response to the program.
Due to the offer’s popularity, especially in Dallas, FreeRange co-owner Kyle Noonan announced in an Instagram post Sunday that the initiative will be continued for another two weeks. In this round, Rustic restaurants will add the option to include a beer with a donated chicken sandwich for $18.95, plus tax. Kimosh says sandwiches will be distributed to different hospitals this time, with vouchers for free beers to be enjoyed at the restaurant. The idea came from Josh Sepkowitz, Noonan’s business partner and FreeRange co-owner.
National companies, too, like Starbucks and Krispy Kreme, are showing support to the medical sector. At the remaining drive-though locations still open, Starbucks is giving a free brewed or iced coffee to frontline health care workers through May 3. And on Mondays, beginning March 30 for National Doctors’ Day and extending through May 11 for National Nurses Week, Krispy Kreme will give a free dozen original glazed doughnuts to anyone with a medical badge.
Locally, Ascension Coffee is offering free breakfast to medical personnel and first responders at all of their locations. Upon presentation of a company ID or business card, medical workers will get a free cup of coffee and a breakfast taco to go. The special started last week, and they are planning to continue through the duration of the crisis.
And just this week, a Houston resident launched a new nonprofit called Feed the Front Line, which raises funds to purchase meals from Houston and Dallas restaurants that will be delivered to hospital workers by a volunteer team.
For someone like Dr. Raghu Krishnamurthy, medical director for the ICU at Baylor Scott & White-McKinney, who also serves as a pulmonary critical care physician in the ICU at Methodist Dallas, getting word of gestures like these comes as great news. He’s been working 12-hour shifts every day for the past three weeks, and even though he insists that what he’s doing is like any normal day in an ICU — with a little added mental stress — he says, “It feels good to know people are thinking about us.”