'Take Out 25 Oak Park' Aims To Help Restaurants Survive COVID-19

OAK PARK, IL — Around the country, the restaurant community continues to be rocked by a dramatic decline in sales due to the coronavirus pandemic. Restaurants in Oak Park are no different. They, too, continue to feel the financial blow dealt by this nasty virus.

To help the doors of their local restaurants stay open, some Oak Park residents have come together to launch "Take Out 25 Oak Park," an initiative that encourages residents to pledge to spend $25 each week on takeout with local restaurants through this winter.

For local restaurants like Poke Burrito, this initiative has already been a game changer.

"We were wondering why we got busier since the last Wednesday, and it's so unusual. I just realized today when someone told me about the [Take Out 25 Oak Park] flyer in the restaurant," posted restaurant owner, Jimmy Chen, via social media. "We are facing the most challenging time ever with the pandemic plus round two shutdowns - not even outdoor seating due to the cold weather."

According to pledge organizers, if approximately half of Oak Park’s households spend $25 dollars a week on takeout, it would add up to $1 million in the pockets of area restaurants.

"That's an average of $10,000 per restaurant per month to cover operation costs, which could be the difference between economic survival or extinction," organizers wrote on their website.

So far, more than 3,700 people have also joined a Facebook page dedicated to the initiative. Ravi Parakkat, a candidate for Oak Park trustee, helped launch the pledge several weeks ago as a way to help approximately 100 Oak Park restaurants that have taken a huge financial blow as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. So far, he's been amazed by how quickly the community has stepped up to the plate to help out.

"I'm overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and encouragement for this initiative," he said on the group's Facebook page. "Without broad support from the community, this idea would have been a non-starter. Thank you so very much. I'm so glad that it's working for our local restaurants and I hope our consistent efforts here will see them through this winter."

Interested in helping out the cause? Here are a few ideas:

• Meeting friends or family over ZOOM? Order-in from a different restaurant each week and share that experience together.
• Celebrating a special occasion? Birthday? Anniversary? Consider a local restaurant for takeout.
• Don’t feel like cooking for the holidays? Let a local restaurant help you with the cooking.

Learn more at www.takeout25oakpark.com.