Chicago restaurants are closing in staggering numbers daily, leaving behind many hospitality industry people struggling to put food on their tables and take care of their families. These closures are also leaving first responders, and healthcare workers with limited and sporadic food options in a time when food and fuel to keep saving lives shouldn’t be a worry in their day. Chicago Bar Shop in partnership with The Irish Nobleman are feeding as many hospitality industry, healthcare and first responders as possible. With the help of your sponsorship, we can increase the number of meals donated to those in the frontline and those most deeply devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. 

Why are so many restaurants closing? Because staying partially-open for “take-out only” during a pandemic is not lucrative. However, it is a choice. It’s a choice to be a continued essential service to the community, to the city of Chicago, to our first responders, to our doctors, nurses, police officers, and to the hospitality employees who are fed daily. It allows us to feed vital community members, and allows continued employment to others. 

Since it opened, Irish Nobleman has always actively given back to the Chicago community- from hosting fundraisers to feeding law enforcement every single day (cost-free.) Chicago Bar Shop is contributing support to expand and extend the positive impact on Chicago in it’s time of greatest need. Our shared goal is to offer daily zero-cost meals to any hospitality industry staff who have been affected adversely by the pandemic and subsequent restaurant closures, and to the frontline healthcare workers who have so tirelessly and selflessly been working to keep us safe. 

At the end of the day, hospitality is about the people- and those people need help. Like the nurse going to bed without eating at the end of a 16 hr shift because they were too exhausted to make food. Or the restaurant worker who’s unemployment assistance is still in limbo and so they can’t remember the last hot meal they had. The amount of people who need help right now is ever growing, and we want to do our part to help where we can. 

The hospitality industry will forever be changed- and so will we, personally. But, we’re confident that we will bounce back if we take care of each other. While this may go down as one of the lowest and darkest times for us, and for the entire restaurant/hospitality industry, we look forward to resurfacing in the sunlight on the other side through hope, community, and support from allies like you.

Our ultimate goal is to provide meals to those most affected by the pandemic, for as long as there is a serious effect on their well-being and as long as our efforts are needed. Providing 150-250 meals per day at an average cost of $7/meal puts our weekly fundraising goal at $12,250/week. Based on the current pandemic predictions, the number of restaurants who are expected to permanently shutter leaving thousands of hospitality workers displaced- we are preparing for about 6 months of these efforts. This realistic estimate puts our fundraising goal at approximately $300k to meet these needs.

Join Chicago Bar Shop and The Irish Nobleman in taking care of those who’ve been taking care of us. Will you help?