In case you missed it: How the ‘Keep BR Serving’ campaign is using gift cards to help local service industry workers

The dine-in blackout is still at least two weeks from ending, and restaurants are getting creative to survive the pandemic. Last month, Mayor Sharon Weston Broome and her team assessed these factors and cooked up the “Keep BR Serving” campaign.

“Our restaurants are an integral part of the small business fabric of our community,” Broome says. “Our culture is rooted in food, so we needed to act quickly.”

The quick response included an hour-long discussion with business leaders and restaurant owners concerned for the thousands of servers and bartenders at risk of unemployment during the shutdown.

After that conversation, Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Veneeth Iyengar developed the tactical plan, and the “Keep BR Serving” campaign was born. 

The “Keep BR Serving” campaign directs 20% of gift card sales at participating restaurants toward covering lost tips and wages for the restaurant’s employees.

Read on for the full story, which originally appeared in the March 31 edition of 225 Dine.