DENVER (KDVR) – The restaurant industry has been devastated by COVID-19 restrictions, leaving restaurant workers struggling to make ends meet and sometimes having a hard time finding a meal. The community is coming together to help them.
Greg Hollenback is the host of “The Modern Eater Show,” which has been highlighting the challenges of the restaurant industry as well as the creativity of the service industry employees.
“The hurt is apparent and it’s not their fault. We can’t wait for others to help us, we have to do it here,” Hollenback said. “Luckily, we have such a great community of people, it’s an easy thing to do. We had to do something to make sure people were fed.”
He teamed up with some of the area’s top chefs, food suppliers and volunteers to start “Feeding the Furloughed.”
They are creating gourmet dishes and handing them out to furloughed service industry workers every Wednesday and Friday for the rest of the year.
“This food represents more than a meal. This food represents our community, this food represents the people who have served us for so long,” Hollenback said, “If this meal can help just one person find today is a little bit better than yesterday, we will continue to this for as long as it’s needed.”
Troy Guard is one of Denver’s top chefs. He owns the TAG restaurant group and is well-known for giving back to the community.
“We do everything we can to help our staff,” Guard said. “They make me look good. Some of these guys been here 20 years, 6 years, 5 years. It means a lot to me.”
In addition to feeding furloughed workers, this idea has created several jobs.
“A year ago, I had 635 employees. In March, we had to furlough all of them. We brought back 200 in June. But now with everything closing again, we have just 25 or 30 people. That’s it out of 600-plus. That’s pretty devastating,” Guard said. “Whatever we can do in the community, I will give as long I can. We’re getting to the narrow edge with these restaurants being closed, but we still have some fight left in us and we wanted to do what we could.”
Many others are joining this effort, including: Elevation Foodservice Reps, Aspen Baking Company, Colorado Mills Sunflower Products, The Spice Guy, Centennial Cuts Beef, Rome’s Sausage, Shamrock Foodservice, Pickett’s Brothers Beverage, Bruz Beers, Strohauer Farms, Colorado Restaurant Association, Petrocco Farms, Raquelitas Tortillas, Proud Souls Barbecue and Provisions, Golden Moon Distillery and Golden Moon Speak.
They will hand out 175 meals on Wednesdays and Fridays: Dec. 16, 18, 23 and 30.
- Dec 16: Troy Guard, TAG Restaurant Group
- Dec 18: Rebecca Weitzman, Logan Street
- Dec 23: George Eder, Pizza Republica
- Dec 30: Jared Leonard: AJ’s Pit Bar-B-Q
“Friends & Family” volunteers are helping with the contactless, curbside delivery. They are a non-profit organization that provides industry-related education programs and events for employees of Colorado’s food and beverage industry.
“Not only are they nourished with a meal, but they know that someone cares,” Executive Director Kevin Galaba said.
Guard said serving people is why he’s in the business, and he is happy to be serving those in need of a hot meal.
“The meal is the least we could do. If there is one thing we like to do here, (it) is break bread together and have that community sense. A lot of great purveyors are coming together. This is what we do at “The Modern Eater”: bring people together,” Hollenback said
Go to Feeding the Furloughed to sign up for a meal or to donate services and products.
