As co-owner of fine wine and spirits distributor Pinnacle Imports, Liz Kniep Engelsmann has grown from business associate to friend of many area restaurateurs. So it’s been especially hard for her to watch their businesses struggle during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Not only are they my clients; they are also my friends and peers,” Kniep Engelsmann says. “This has been devastating to watch.”
Now, instead of sitting on the sidelines, Kniep Engelsmann is taking matters into her own hands. With the help of the St. Louis Community Foundation, she recently launched Community Carry Out, which aims to support local restaurants by giving them the resources to help others.
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The concept came to her around Thanksgiving. Instead of making a donation to a nonprofit, as she would have normally done, Kniep Engelsmann considered whether it would be more impactful to donate to some of her favorite restaurants, which could in turn help feed those in need. She realized that others who had the means might be willing to do the same.
“Part of the initial thought was, ‘OK, there are tons of corporations that haven’t been entertaining clients, not throwing big holiday parties this year and not spending their budget for indoor dining to do day-to-day business,’” Kniep Engelsmann explains. “If just a portion of that budget went toward this initiative, then some of that cash that normally flows through the restaurant industry this time of year would start to flow again.”
She reached out to several restaurateurs, who supported the idea. She began raising money through her own network and, eventually, connected with the St. Louis Community Foundation, whose nonprofit status and accompanying infrastructure helped grow her idea into a bona fide initiative. Already, the program has raised $42,000; once it reaches $50,000, an anonymous donor has pledged to match that amount at $25,000.
For every $100 that companies or individuals pledge, five meals are contributed. For every $1,000, 50 meals are donated, and so on. Donations are 100 percent tax-deductible.
Restaurants can apply for grants in the amount of either $5,000 or $10,000, with the stipulation that they must prepare 250 or 500 meals, depending on the size of the grant, for food assistance agencies in town that have partnered with the program, including the Urban League of Metropolitan Saint Louis and several area food banks. The Community Carry Out team is also collecting information from those agencies about their needs.
“This gives restaurants the opportunity to do meaningful work with the skills and know-how they have,” Kniep Engelsmann says. “There is dignity in accepting the grant, because you can pay your employees to come in, prep, package, and deliver meals.”
Kniep Engelsmann is planning for the initiative to run through spring, though she hopes the program will endure longer. For now, she’s encouraged that the program is providing a mechanism for restaurants to find additional relief while helping the community.
“So many people work in this industry and have lost their income,” Kniep Engelsmann says. “If we want to see unemployment go down and see the economy jumpstart, we have to spend money like we normally would to make that happen. This is an opportunity to have some of this cashflow go where it normally would. Not only do you help the St. Louis economy and some of the people who wouldn’t have work, but also you get to help the most vulnerable, who are most affected by pandemic.”
For more information on Community Carry Out, including how restaurants can apply for grants, visit the program’s Facebook page.
