We’re deep into the Covid-19 lockdown, and fundraisers to help support New Jersey’s food and drinks community have sprouted up everywhere. The more we looked at how money is being raised, though, we realized it isn’t just one restaurant, or a few—it’s private citizens, global alliances of breweries, restaurant groups and yes, neighborhood restaurants calling out to regulars (the quiet, passive stars of every restaurant fundraiser).
More than a month into the statewide shutdown, we figured it was a good time to survey some of the fundraising success stories. Maybe it’ll inspire a donation, maybe an entirely new fundraiser. Or perhaps just a smile. Either way, that’s a win.
The Power of Regular Customers and the Neighborhood Restaurant
Proving the power of the neighborhood restaurant should never be underestimated, Squan Tavern in Manasquan exceeded its fundraising goals. Owner Joe Bossone made the tough decision to close down earlier in March. “It was a very hard decision to make,” Bossone wrote on the restaurant’s GoFundMe page on March 18. “Unfortunately, I cannot make up all of [my employees’] lost wages myself.” Instead, hoping to tide 25 workers over at $300 a week for “a couple weeks,” Bosssone put a call out to his regulars: “We have been in business for decades and I know that there are very loyal, regular customers of ours that are willing to help this dedicated group that I’m glad to call my extended family,” he writes.
Bossone was correct. Not only did he meet his initial $15,000 fundraising goal, the fundraiser is currently at $17,280 (and counting), with donating customers calling out their favorite servers and wishing everyone well.
Casting a Wider Net, for a Lot More People
Harvest Restaurant Group made the incredibly difficult decision to furlough its 1,000-plus employees on March 16. Where local neighborhood joints can directly call out their communities, Harvest Restaurant Group is made up of 14 restaurants in the North Jersey area. Their fundraising goal might seem high at $50,000, but if you divide that by 14 restaurants, that’s $3571 per restaurant, which isn’t a high goal in terms of singe restaurant-fundraising (how long would it take the regulars at a restaurant to raise $4000 to help keep it open?).
That’s not how Harvest is allocating its funds—to date they’ve raised $36,311—but that does demonstrate the actual modesty of the goal itself. And especially as Covid-19 restrictions march on, and the “newness” of lockdown wares off, fundraisers like this are going to struggle. And we need to pay attention to them now more than ever. Big restaurant groups like Harvest are vital to New Jersey’s food identity. Places like Agricola, Trap Rock Restaurant and Brewery, Tabor Road Tavern, The Dinky Bar, Huntley Taverne—with our help, they’ll hopefully open up again, with the same smiling employees.
Uh…Secret Fundraisers?
Proving that its best advised to alert a restaurant (or any small business) that you’ve taken their welfare into your interest and actually started raising funds for them, Yelp and GoFundMe recently got in just a bit of hot water as restaurants around the country realized the platform had set up automatic, sort of secret fundraisers for them. The thought was good—Yelp and GoFundMe had even pledged to match $1 million in funds raised. But the way they went about it—with Yelp basically setting up automatic links to GoFundMe on tens of thousands of restaurant Yelp pages without any prior authorization from the restaurant itself—well, that irked some industry people. (The fundraising efforts have since been amended to allow restaurants to opt in.)
Brewing Globally for a Cause
Proving once more that breweries put the “fun” in fundraising, at least 559 breweries from 41 states and 39 countries have banded together to brew a COVID-19 solidarity beer called “All Together.” More than 20 New Jersey breweries have signed up. As with the early March Women’s History Month “Strongest Woman” New Jersey brewery collaboration, participating breweries are given the recipe for the 6.5% abv IPA “All Together” beer, encouraged to put their spin on it, and sell it with some portion of the proceeds going to Coronavirus economic impact relief (ideally local businesses in the brewery’s own area). Carton, Source, and Czig Meister are among the Jersey breweries participating (meaning a beautiful, sudsy mosaic of “All Together” beer variations are gonna be popping up around the state—keep an eye out).
Homebound Citizens Can Make an Impact
Proving that private residents with seemingly nothing to do (except stay home) can actually make a massive impact, Verona resident Kate Fuller Curren decided she was tired of sitting on the sidelines while frontline workers took daily risks and her hometown businesses and restaurants struggled. Fuller Curren took it upon herself to start raising funds among her equally frustrated neighbors, putting together more than $6,000 in the first week, and ultimately raising enough money to purchase food from local area restaurants and deliver that food to nearby hospitals. With funds raised from the neighborhood, Fuller Curren was able to purchase over 500 lunches for frontline workers at St. Barnabas and Mountainside healthcare facilities. Among the participating restaurants were places like Blue Hippo, The Guac Spot, The Empanada Lady, Grimaldi’s, The Thai Elephant, and Avenue Bistro.
If you want to help the restaurant industry, you can also donate directly to organizations like the Restaurant Workers Community Foundation and you can use sites like Help Main Street (with an easy-to-use Google Map) to find restaurants in need of help in your area (and buy a gift card for later, when this gets better).