Restaurant offers free takeout meals for families dealing with unemployment
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LAKE OSWEGO, OR (KPTV) — While so many restaurants are in need of help, one in Lake Oswego is actually in a position to give back to the community.
Tavern on Kruse is offering free meals to people who are unemployed as part of its Tuesday and Friday takeout.
“I work on commission and am kind of getting caught up with that after many months of being out of work,” Molly Norton said as she picked up her pozole Tuesday night. “It’s just such a gift to the community.”
Tavern on Kruse started giving out the meals when things shutdown in the spring. The idea came as they were about to lay off 32 of their own staff and realized they could at least help with food. One thing led to another to help more people but still about a third of the food they give away goes to restaurant industry employees out of work.
“We all feel like family. You have your family at the office, we have our family here so it isn’t so much like we’re doing something noble, it’s just taking care of people that we love and we trust and make us what we are and who we are,” Managing Member Kent Lewis said.
In the spring they gave out more than 2,000 meals with a donated meal for every meal bought. Now, since they started back up this winter, Lewis said demand seems to be a little lower.
“The first time that this happened nobody knew what was going to happen to them,” Lewis said. “Now, we’re seeing news about vaccines and we’ve seen things open up again and I think people are more optimistic.”
He said they’re lucky to have gotten one of the first PPP loans and to have had a busy summer on the patio allowing them to continue offering the takeout dinners for those who need them until they open back up.
As far as meals for purchase, Tavern on Kruse offers takeout dinners that are 95 percent done with a video guide on how to finish putting them together at home. That way things don’t get mushy or cold in the car.
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