Restaurants country-wide are shuttered as shelter-in-place orders continue throughout many regions. With most customers wisely choosing to stay at home to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, restaurant sales have plummeted. To help keep the lights on and keep some employees on payroll, restaurants across the nation are getting creative. While some are moving to a takeout model, others are looking in a different direction. Some businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area are pivoting to non-profit work in order to both do some good for their community and keep their businesses open. They’re feeding “the homeless, the out of work, and the first responders fighting the virus”. With the dramatic decline in business, it’s a great idea to re-purpose idle kitchens and pivot staff to temporary nonprofits. Mercury News reports that a popular Oakland restaurant, Luka’s Taproom & Lounge, recently created a network of restaurants called Community Kitchens that is accepting donations to support them making meals for those in need in the community. So far, Community Kitchen has raised more than $40,000 in donated funds to help support their efforts. In a large city like Oakland with a sizable homeless population, efforts like this can have a big impact on the lives of local citizens. Homeless populations are already extremely vulnerable at the best of times. Since the shelter-in-place mandates were put into place, non-profit businesses have seen more and more volunteers staying home, which leaves many homeless people without the community driven services that help keep them healthy and fed. Following Luka’s lead, other restaurants in the area have joined the cause, and Community Kitchen has even been invited to join Chefs for America, Jose Andre’s charitable endeavor that pays restaurants to “feed needy families and front line workers”.  According to Mercury News, other local restaurants are also changing their focus in order to stay afloat during these hard times, while also helping their community Some are selling quarantine staples like bleach, produce and flour. Others are helping to ship batches of nonperishable food and even children’s games to families that are stuck at home, to help them cope while everyone is stuck inside. We know restaurants have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic, so it’s nice to see at least a few businesses finding success in other areas that can help them through these hard times. Have the restaurants in your area changed their business strategies to cope during the pandemic? Have you seen any interesting ideas? Let us know on Twitter & Instagram.   https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/04/09/as-business-dries-up-bay-area-restaurants-feed-the-needy/