Besides caring for their fellow restaurant community, some NYC restaurants are lending a helping hand to many others who are struggling to feed themselves amid this pandemic. The delivery men and women, the first responders, the healthcare workers, and everyone who is essential to the operation of the city all need to eat but their options have become limited when so many restaurants have closed and their prolonged work hours may have kept them from eating well. There are also homeless people who are starving in the street that need food and other essential supplies to survive the pandemic. Many NYC restaurants have stepped in to change this by sending food to people who need it the most.
From Fine Dining to Boxed Lunch
Eleven Madison Park (EMP) is an iconic restaurant in the heart of Manhattan. Named the No.1 restaurant in the world in 2017, it has an amazing view of the Park, high-quality service, and of course, luxurious food. Who would have thought that today, just three years later, EMP has turned itself into a commissary kitchen that prepares 3,000 meals in lunch boxes to feed the homeless and the hungry in the city. Interviewed by the NYT and Bloomberg, Daniel Humm, owner and chef of EMP says that the urge to help the City sparked the idea of transforming his restaurant into a soup kitchen for the disadvantaged.
With help from Rethink Food NYC, a non-profit specialized in feeding the City with food excess, Humm reopened the kitchen at EMP on April 1st and his team started to produce 2,000 meals a day with increasing capacity. The effort that goes into this transformation is much more than what has been visible to the public.
The funds, the logistics, the cooking, and so many details need to be right in order for this great change to happen. Humm and his staff have taken an unprecedented step to challenge the traditional thinking on what a fine dining restaurant can do.
Feed the Heroes
Not every restaurant in New York City is capable of providing food donation with the same scale and volume as EMP has done, but they are doing what they can to help the city. Many restaurants have partnered with local non-profit organizations like Frontline Foods to provide for healthcare workers and other essential personnels who are fighting for the city. Such initiative solves two of the biggest problems in the pandemic: first, the restaurant business that are on the edge of crumbling can stay in operation, and second, the heroes on the front line get the fuel to continue the fight.
NOWON, a Korean American restaurant in East Village, could not afford to stay open during the COVID-19 crisis until it started to partner with Frontline Foods. Now it has served meals to not only healthcare workers but also firefighters, veterans, and the elderly and the restaurant is now able to extend service in takeout and no-contact delivery to regular customers.
By saving those in need, some NYC restaurants have also saved themselves.
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