Feeding the Line that Fed the Frontline
Donation protected
Food scarcity should not be an issue for people who work in restaurants. But with the recent dining restrictions in Colorado, independent restaurants are being forced to lay employees off in the dozens. These are the people who worked to keep you, your family, and your frontline workers fed since the beginning of the pandemic. They worked 14 hour shifts on their feet with masks on. While the coronavirus raged on, they continued to show up for you. Now it is our turn to show up for them. In lieu of holiday gifts from big box retailers this year, we are asking that you keep our community of restaurant workers fed.
We are 2 account managers at small foodservice companies in Denver who collectively work with over 400 independently owned restaurants. Since March, we have seen our restaurants pivot and fight and pivot again to keep their doors open and their staff employed. We have seen our chefs cook thousands of meals for hospital and frontline workers. We have seen our restaurants turn into grocery stores and meal-kit production sites. We have seen the best and brilliance of our community.
We, too, have pivoted and re-pivoted to keep our trucks running product to our chefs, and to keep our own employees on payroll. Altamira created an online grocery platform to deliver their high quality ingredients to the public. Fresh Guys sold produce boxes out of the back of a truck at the Source and now works with a local non profit to get the freshest fruits and vegetables to teachers and seniors in need. We have the product, we have the distribution, and we know the people in need. But we are small companies, and without non-profit status, we don’t qualify for government or large corporate grants. 501c3 status can take up to 7 months to receive. But our community doesn’t have 7 months – they need food NOW.
We estimate that on average, each restaurant will have to lay off 25 employees. Between our 400 restaurants, that’s 10,000 people who will lose their jobs during the holiday season with no government safety net. We want to spend $25 on each person for 4 weeks which will cost us $1,000,000.
With that $25, we can give them $100 worth of groceries from our companies. Each box will include 4-5 vegetable items, 2-3 fruit items, fresh greens and herbs, staples such as pasta, bread, restaurant quality canned goods and soups. Our small companies support hundreds of small farmers, independent makers, foragers, trucking companies, roasters, butchers and innumerable others in the supply chain.
We will ask our restaurants for the number of boxes requested every week prioritized by need. For transparency, we will update here with how many boxes were distributed to each restaurant. 100% of the proceeds will go towards feeding people in need.
We are 2 account managers at small foodservice companies in Denver who collectively work with over 400 independently owned restaurants. Since March, we have seen our restaurants pivot and fight and pivot again to keep their doors open and their staff employed. We have seen our chefs cook thousands of meals for hospital and frontline workers. We have seen our restaurants turn into grocery stores and meal-kit production sites. We have seen the best and brilliance of our community.
We, too, have pivoted and re-pivoted to keep our trucks running product to our chefs, and to keep our own employees on payroll. Altamira created an online grocery platform to deliver their high quality ingredients to the public. Fresh Guys sold produce boxes out of the back of a truck at the Source and now works with a local non profit to get the freshest fruits and vegetables to teachers and seniors in need. We have the product, we have the distribution, and we know the people in need. But we are small companies, and without non-profit status, we don’t qualify for government or large corporate grants. 501c3 status can take up to 7 months to receive. But our community doesn’t have 7 months – they need food NOW.
We estimate that on average, each restaurant will have to lay off 25 employees. Between our 400 restaurants, that’s 10,000 people who will lose their jobs during the holiday season with no government safety net. We want to spend $25 on each person for 4 weeks which will cost us $1,000,000.
With that $25, we can give them $100 worth of groceries from our companies. Each box will include 4-5 vegetable items, 2-3 fruit items, fresh greens and herbs, staples such as pasta, bread, restaurant quality canned goods and soups. Our small companies support hundreds of small farmers, independent makers, foragers, trucking companies, roasters, butchers and innumerable others in the supply chain.
We will ask our restaurants for the number of boxes requested every week prioritized by need. For transparency, we will update here with how many boxes were distributed to each restaurant. 100% of the proceeds will go towards feeding people in need.
Fundraising team (2)
Lynelle Fowler
Organizer
Denver, CO
Jeff Jones
Team member