Welcome to COVID-19 Daily, our round-up column covering coronavirus-related brick-and-mortar news with intel like restaurants that are reopening for takeout and delivery, charitable happenings, virtual classes and services, and miscellaneous feel-good tidbits. Send us an email for inclusion consideration in tomorrow’s roundup.
In a complete reversal, Mychel “Snoop” Dillard and rapper 2 Chainz on Monday did not reopen Escobar Restaurant and Tapas Lounge, one of the first Atlanta restaurants last week to announce it would open April 27.
“Although we are eager to have our staff back at work, we’ve decided to hold off on opening Escobar,” Dillard said in a prepared statement Monday to What Now Atlanta (WNA).
“Protecting our community and city are at the top of our list.”
The restaurant did, however, open from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. to “administer hundreds of meals to the homeless, in place of serving customers.”
After feeding the homeless, the staff drove around Metro-Atlanta to different low income and homeless areas and dropped off meals, a spokesperson added.
“With the city reopening, we wanted to make sure we focused on who and what’s important to the city of Atlanta, the community, the people,” Dillard and 2 Chainz said in a joint statement.
Curious which Atlanta-area restaurants have reopened? See our ongoing list here.
Curry Up Now Launches ‘Roll it Forward’
Fast-casual Indian franchisee Curry Up Now has launched a “Roll it Forward” campaign in an “effort to show gratitude for healthcare workers across the country and help those whose lives and jobs have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis.”
The initiative, which will be offered at all 11 of Curry Up Now’s restaurants from coast-to-coast, invites guests to purchase $12 Donation Meals that Curry Up Now will match meal-for-meal.
Guests can add any denomination of Donation Meals to their “cart,” from one up to 100 or more, when ordering via the Curry Up Now app or website.
Beginning on Nurses Appreciation Day May 6, Curry Up Now will match the number of Donation Meals collected and deliver them to local hospitals to feed healthcare workers on the front lines.
Curry Up Now will continue to match and deliver Donation Meals on a regular basis to hospitals, recently unemployed or furloughed hospitality workers, those in homeless shelters, and others who have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis.
Five Daughters Bakery Reopens For Curbside Pick-up
Five Daughters Bakery is now open in Ponce City Market and Westside Provisions District for pick-up from 8 a.m to 4 p.m. during the week and 9 a,m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Online orders can be placed here. Pick-up at Ponce City Market will be located in the 30-minute parking area in front of Mountain High Outfitters.
Visa/IFundWomen Grant Atlanta Small Business $10,000
Visa today announced in partnership with the IFundWomen Grant Program that Wanona Satcher, CEO and founder of Atlanta’s Mākhers Studio, was selected to receive a $10,000 grant for her “social good work.”
Mākhers Studio deploys small neighborhood manufacturing centers where they design modular residential, commercial, and community spaces.
These centers, located in underserved communities, allow the company to hire locally so residents can build and own the change they want to see.
“Small and micro businesses are the backbone of local economies and, in many cases, have been hit hardest by the global pandemic,” a Visa spokesperson in an email told WNA.
“As women entrepreneurs specifically face disproportionate funding challenges regularly, Visa is committed to ensuring that women business owners have what they need to run, fund and grow their businesses, especially during today’s unprecedented circumstances.”
The grant awarded to Satcher was one of four.
[Editor’s note: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is rapidly evolving as is its effect on Atlanta, and the City’s businesses and its residents. Click here for What Now Atlanta’s ongoing coverage of the crisis. For guidance and updates on the pandemic, please visit the C.D.C. website.]
2 Responses
Let me guess: They bought a bunch of food that no one showed up to eat. Escobar is a nightclub anyway, not a restaurant. These same people own Crave in L5P, and they are terrible neighbors.
Most People throw food away. I applaud the effort to allow someone in need to benefit. People never forget things like that!