You love all of your local coffee shops and restaurants right? They’re the local favorite spots that you’re a regular at where everyone knows your name and they’ve always been there for you—but now more than ever they need your help. So many restaurants closed their doors completely, while others are relying on delivery and takeout with this corona pandemic. Here are five little things you can do to help our local Central New York restaurants stay in business.
1. PURCHASE A GIFT CARD FOR THE FUTURE
Some small, independent restaurants may never recover from this horrible pandemic. Larger chains can more likely afford to withstand a few months of no business or take out, but with our neighborhood restaurants, they may not be able to. Restaurants need funds now more than ever. Just an idea, on a night you would usually go out to dinner, have a date night or girls night, see if your restaurants offer gift cards and support them. Or grab a couple and give them to a medical professional as gifts, you will support your local spot and make a friend very happy. Win win!
2. CONTINUE ORDERING TAKEOUT OR DELIVERY FOOD
There’s a long list of restaurants offering takeout and delivery, from casual neighborhood spots like Garage Tacos and Texas Roadhouse to upscale restaurants like Social and Lampy’s. The icing on the cake is that popular food delivery services like UberEats, Grubhub and Seamless are dumping delivery fees and having awesome food specials all at the same time.
3. PURCHASE YOUR FAVORITE RESTAURANT’S MERCHANDISE
Check in to see if your favorite eateries sell hats, T-shirts, mugs or other things!added bonus your WFH OOTD is set! Beyond the traditional things, perhaps a restaurant you love has its very own cookbook? Go ahead and stock up on these!
4. CHECK OUT ALCOHOL TAKE-OUT OPTIONS
We’re not sure when exactly it became legal for restaurants and bars to offer pre-made craft cocktails as takeout, but during this pandemic it doesn’t seem to be a bad idea. Many restaurants are offering takeout and delivery booze specials, from full bottles of wine to just-add-ice mixed drinks. You can’t sit down at Social for a cocktail but you can order one to go.
5. SHOP LOCAL INSTEAD OF BIG CHAINS
Smaller markets are less packed with shoppers, so it’s a bit easier to practice social distancing while you stock up on groceries and of course you help their small business stay afloat opposed to big chains that can handle the blow of a pandemic and recession. Please shop and eat locally. Support small business whenever, wherever possible.
