Center City District (CCD) has launched a campaign encouraging people to order takeout from restaurants during the cold winter months.
From January through March, if you take CCD’s advice and order take out from a Center City restaurant, you could win monthly dinners for a year. Each month, two diners will win twelve $50 gift cards at select Center City restaurants. To enter, upload take out receipts here. The campaign visuals are light-hearted, featuring iconic images reminiscent of Uncle Sam and Rosie the Riveter. But the message is serious - the survival of restaurants and the jobs they provide. According to CCD, restaurant and food service employment in Philadelphia is 38% below where it was a year ago.
"Our restaurants have been incredibly entrepreneurial during this extraordinarily challenging time, from the creativity that has gone into designing heated outdoor dining spaces to the ingenuity that was required to quickly develop new business models focused on takeout,” said CCD President Paul R. Levy. “Restaurants are doing all they can to keep their staffs employed and their kitchens open. This campaign is designed to support these small businesses that provide jobs and bring vitality to the city.”
Click here for a chart of more than 150 Center City restaurants that shows whether they’re open for outdoor dining, take out and delivery, as well as about 175 quick casual restaurants, ice cream parlors, bakeries, bars and coffee shops.
CCD's tips for helping restaurants survive:
Order directly from restaurants
Tip generously
Pick up yourself
Pay cash
By Irene Levy Baker, author, 100 Things To Do In Philadelphia and Unique Eats & Eateries of Philadelphia. 100 Things includes well-known sights and hidden gems that even long-time locals may not know about, and tips. Unique Eats tells the sweet and spicy stories behind Philadelphia area restaurants. Both books include the city, surrounding suburbs and South Jersey.
Planning a staycation? Get signed copies of books at www.100ThingsToDoInPhiladelphia.com. For free shipping, use promo code TheCityPulse.
Click here for more blog postings by Irene Levy Baker including more ways to help restaurants survive and fun and safe things we CAN do in the Philadelphia region.