Over $33,000 raised for Toronto's Restaurant Workers

Written By

Robin Winship

4 years ago

After a successful 30 days of raising funds for crisis relief for Toronto's restaurant workers, all 30 spots have been nominated! So far, we have raised over $33,000 for Toronto restaurant employees. Donations are still being accepted until midnight on the 30th of April, so if you wanted to donate, there is still time.

Once donations are all in, we will get them into the hands of the amazing people we’ve heard from throughout this campaign. Restaurant owners will disperse the donations between their employees who have been let go due to this pandemic. In speaking with each of the 30 restaurant owners, we know how grateful they are for your donations and community support during these trying times. We could not have done any of this without all of you. We can’t thank you enough for your support. We are all in this together. Stay strong Toronto!

We would especially like to thank DoorDash for their generous donation of $8000 to the cause, this has helped us immensely in coming closer to our goal.

30 Spots Nominated

Cafe Neon

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• Donation Link in BIO • “COVID-19 has impacted us hard, as well as every other restaurant I’m sure. We have had to stop operating completely. The immediate nature of our closure led to massive amounts of food waste, as well as the immediate lay offs of all employees. A lot of my employees are living paycheque to paycheque, as the cost of living in Toronto is extremely high. We were able to give them as much of our food as possible, but by now their food supply must have dwindled. I believe many of them are experiencing high levels of stress and anxiety. Your donations are very much appreciated. I would probably divide it up amongst everyone in the form of gift cards from a local grocery store - that way it would go towards the purchase of essential goods and would help another local business as well. This situation is unprecedented & I am very thankful about any help that is given/offered. Toronto is an amazing city and the people are very caring & supportive.” - Cafe Neon & Bar Neon | Owners, Niki Tsourounakis & Katy Chan

A post shared by TasteToronto (@tastetoronto) on Mar 24, 2020 at 8:00am PDT

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• Donation Link in BIO • “In 2011, the Thai food scene in Toronto was very different, there were a few small places around the city. I wanted to open a restaurant that captured the vibrancy and energy of Bangkok, and be proud that we serve high quality and consistently delicious Thai food. With the restaurant industry hit hard, we have had to reduce our staff by 29 people, but we are fortunate to stay open at Khao San Road, offering pickup and delivery. My team is working extremely hard every day to deliver a consistently high quality meal for order. If you have been here, you will have seen, through the open pass into the kitchen, how hard they work. You will be hard pressed to find a team that has held this high of quality for as long as they have. They are pros at what they do, and they are irreplaceable. We are taking things day by day. Our team is careful with all the guidelines and protocols as given by our health officials. We wish we could have kept all of our team, as there are so many loyal, dedicated and hard-working individuals we value.” Owner, Khao San Road, Monte Wan

A post shared by TasteToronto (@tastetoronto) on Mar 29, 2020 at 10:39am PDT

Lazy Daisy's Cafe

Glory Hole Doughnuts

The Beet

Short & Sweet Bakeshop Cafe

Beast

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• Donation Link in BIO • “I opened Beast in June of 2010 in a small house converted into a restaurant in the King West area of Toronto. We’ve always embraced being a neighbourhood restaurant and take pride in the ingredients we source and the food we prepare. As the chef/owner, I still cook every service that we are open. _ We have had to completely close our restaurant and lay-off all of our staff. Being the chef/owner, I have no financial investors or big companies funding my restaurant. It is me, everyday grinding it out from the time we open until the time we close. My staff have always supported me and continue to through these tough times. They’re all maintaining positive attitudes with the hopes of reopening one day soon. It’s going to take quite a bit of capital to reopen once we’re told it’s alright. I hope to be able to do so for the sake of my staff and my livelihood. _ My staff and I are communicating through social media with the hashtag #beasthomecookin so that we can see everyone’s home cooked meals. I’m always available for my staff (family) to talk to during these troubled times. _ We are so grateful for the support we’ve received from Toronto over the last 10 years and we can’t wait to reopen and cook for y’all again!” Beast Restaurant Owner, Scott Vivian

A post shared by TasteToronto (@tastetoronto) on Apr 3, 2020 at 8:08am PDT

Aviv Immigrant Kitchen

The George Street Diner

Sotto Voce Wine & Pasta Bar

Fk Wine Bar

Bar Sybanne

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• Donation Link in BIO • Bar Sybanne was founded in 2017 by Chef and owner Howard Dubrovsky. The name Sybanne came from a combination of Sybil and Anne, Howard's grandmothers. In every sense this restaurant has been a tribute to the concepts of family and keeping together. _ “Covid-19 represents the greatest crisis of industry that anyone in hospitality could imagine, let alone ever seen. So many of us go through each day wondering if we will be able to ride this out. Obviously the hardest part in all this is trying to ease the fears of our staff, our Bar Sybanne family, when the future is so unknown. _ After the initial shut down it became so evident just how much life has changed. At Sybanne, our staff used to work together, play together, eat, sing, and laugh together. Most of us would spend the majority of our time together. For many of us here, the distance apart has been the hardest part in all this. _ Our goal is to keep the restaurant alive by whatever means necessary in order to have all our staff come back to work as soon as it's safe and possible for them to do so.” Bar Sybanne Owner, Howard Dubrovsky

A post shared by TasteToronto (@tastetoronto) on Apr 8, 2020 at 9:09am PDT

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• Donation Link in BIO • “We wanted to open a craft beer pub and decided our own neighbourhood would be perfect since there weren't a ton of places nearby doing scratch made food and local craft beer. The idea was to have as much fun as possible. Make solid grub and find the best local beer and have plenty of laughs along the way. _ We got together a solid team of good people and went from there. The Wren is more about the people involved than the actual space. Not just the staff, but all the neighbourhood folk that pop in for a bite. The menu changes here and there and the taps are constantly rotating but we always hope to be a gathering spot in the community. _ We closed the doors on the 16th, just before it was mandated. A few of us were sitting around the bar chatting and it started to become clear that it wasn’t safe to stay open. At first we thought we could just wait it out. We had to lay everyone off but figured it wouldn’t be too long before we were open again and things went back to normal. But now it’s looking like normal might not be back for a while. _ A lot of the staff have been with us since the beginning. They all really care about the place and it wasn't an easy decision to lay everyone off. Although it's technically temporary, we're not sure when we'll be able to have them back.” The Wren Owners, Dennis & Rhonda Kimeda

A post shared by TasteToronto (@tastetoronto) on Apr 13, 2020 at 8:52am PDT

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• Donation Link in BIO • “It had always been my husband’s dream to open up his own restaurant. Ned has been a Chef for 27 years and you can definitely taste his love for cooking in every dish. We opened Balsamico in 2009 when we both found ourselves out of a job due to the recession.. _ A sign hangs above our kitchen window that reads “Enter as strangers, leave as friends“, which perfectly defines our intentions as a restaurant. Our staff is the core of our success, we are not co-workers, we are family. Our customers are not only our biggest supporters, they are friends. _ The hardest thing during COVID-19 has been letting go of some of our beloved staff and not knowing if we will be able to ever invite them back to work. Our staff are mostly family breadwinners with small kids. Knowing that we are taking away their bread was the thing that kept us awake at night. We have this duo, two brothers from Brazil. They are students who came to Toronto to finish school and are supporting themselves by working at Balsamico. These two are very hard working and the sweetest guys you will ever meet - for them to lose their jobs is devastating. _ The rug was pulled from underneath all of us so quickly and the uncertainty of the situation is very scary. We were able to keep two full timers during the transition into delivery & take out, who have continued to be so positive and dedicated to the work they do, we are so lucky to have this team of people, just heartbroken we can’t help all of them.” -Balsamico Owners. Ned & Linda Spahic

A post shared by TasteToronto (@tastetoronto) on Apr 18, 2020 at 10:11am PDT

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• Donation link in BIO • “We started our business on July 5, 2014. Patois is a very personal story from my unique upbringing of Jamaican Chinese roots, Toronto influence, and experience working abroad. _ When details of COVID-19 started to arise, we decided that the most important thing is the safety of our staff and customers and ensuring that our work is responsible. About 4 weeks after our closure, we started to understand more about the landscape of the virus nd devised a way that we could safely open and could feed people both takeout and delivery, with their safety as our top priority. _ We spent many years cultivating a team culture that has become more like a second family for our team. We spend so much time together that they grow very close. Not only is this a loss of income for our team, for many of them it is a temporary distancing of their second family. _ Donations received will go directly to help our staff members that are most in need. Some are having difficulty with things like paying rent and buying groceries and this will go a long way to help them. Our team keeps in constant communication. The team dynamic, even through FaceTime or messaging remains as positive as it can be. We're all just trying to be there for each other in any way we can.” Patois Owner, Craig Wong

A post shared by TasteToronto (@tastetoronto) on Apr 22, 2020 at 10:54am PDT

We’ll see you in there.

30 Spots Nominated