Struggling B.C. restaurants don’t forget to give back

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About 50 per cent of restaurants are struggling to survive as inflation hits them on all fronts, but there’s still a lot of giving going on. B.C. restaurants are the first to support community fundraisers and they don’t crow about it. So allow me.

Jennifer Rossi, co-owner of the Kitchen Table group of restaurants (Ask for Luigi, Bacaro, Carlino, Di Beppe, Farina a Legna, Pizzeria Farina, and Pourhouse) says, yes, times are tough right now. But she considers giving back to be a priority.

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“We don’t even look at it as an option. We make it do-able,” she says.

And what do they do? For several years, they’ve picked a monthly charity and each of the restaurants contributes $1 from every sale of a popular dish.

“We operate in and around the Downtown Eastside and we feel it’s the responsibility of doing business in the area to give back,” says Rossi. Donations have gone to the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, B.C. Hospital Foundation, Music Heals Charitable Foundation, Fresh Roots Urban Farm Society, B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation, Eastside Boxing Club, Growing Chefs, Whole Way House Society, Backpack Buddies, Mind the Bar, and Saint James Music Academy.

Donations range from $1,500 to $2,000 per month. “For some of the smaller organizations, that’s quite a lot,” she says.

The Glowbal Restaurant Group (Glowbal, Coast, Black and Blue, The Roof, Trattoria, Italian Kitchen, NOSH, Five Sails) generously feeds families as part of the Vancouver Firefighter Charities’ Snacks for Kids program, which feeds youth and their families in over 60 schools.

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The Glowbal restaurants have been donating 250 meals every week since 2020, which volunteer firefighters distribute. They took a hiatus last December because of the industry-wide staff shortages but plan to be back on track this spring.

At Chai Ghai in downtown Vancouver, owner Sunil Ghai follows what his mummyji, or grandmother, taught him — a love of tea and seva, a philosophy of quiet giving.

“It’s the selfless act of giving. Mummiji passed it down to me at an early age and it’s the centre of everything we do at Chai Ghai,” says Ghai. “She made me chai for every ailment, for every event in my life, using different spices. She had so many recipes, all doing different things for health. The family used them as homeopathic remedies.”

The year-old tea café isn’t yet profitable, but he’s committed to donating two per cent of revenues to charity — the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, Sawa Worldwide, which helps youth lift themselves out of poverty, and The Foundry, which helps youth before and after mental health, substance use and health care crises.

His family operates DDS Wireless, a pioneering tech company in the transportation industry that has “done very well for the family over 35 years,” he says. “What we said was, we’ve made money, it’s time to give back. I worked at DDS for 17 years.” 

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He’s now at the café five days a week making tea.

While Sushi Mahana is known for exquisite omakase food in North Vancouver, owner Yuki Aida is personally compelled to help others. She holds fundraising lunches to benefit the North Shore Crisis Society, including gift card prizes. In 2023, its opening year, the restaurant raised $650 and donated $500 in gift cards.

“As a survivor of family violence, I am honoured to play a small role in letting victims know there is someone looking out for them,” says Aida. “The power of believing in themselves and finding hope to start over is something we all deserve to embrace.”

Suyo Modern Peruvian Restaurant has been donating to various causes through its cocktail program. Currently, the restaurant donates $3 from each cocktail (except for the classics and zero-proof drinks) with money earmarked for organizations related to the stories behind the cocktails.

For example, funds raised from the Pacific Tides cocktail will go to the Raincoast Conservation Foundation. Others are destined for the Downtown Eastside Women’s Shelter, B.C. Search and Rescue, Rainforest Trust, and B.C. Wildfire Recovery Fund. In the past year, they raised just over $6,600.

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“True hospitality theoretically extends beyond the four walls of our bars and restaurants to those who most need help,” says bar manager Max Curzon-Price, who was awarded Michelin’s Exceptional Cocktails Award last year.

Medina Cafe, like Anh and Chi Vietnamese restaurant, also raises charitable funds from customers by charging $10 for reservations to hold high-demand tables instead of turning them over more quickly. They’ve raised $60,000 since last June through reservation fees with proceeds going to CLICK (supporting inner city children), Backpack Buddies (feeds children who would go hungry over weekends), and B.C. Children’s Hospital.

And in the West End, The Jungle Room cocktail lounge has donated $4,400 to non-profits since opening last May. Recipients include Pacific Wild (works to protect B.C.’s Great Bear Rainforest), Greater Vancouver Food Bank, WISH Drop-in Society (supports health and safety of women in the street-based sex trade), the Urban Native Youth Association and Canadian Red Cross Fire Relief.

“Supporting worthy charitable causes is a long-term initiative for Jungle Room,” says owner Kevin Frank. Pacific Wild is dear to his heart as it “works to prevent deforestation by clear-cutting, protecting river valleys, and enacting a fully legislated ban on trophy hunting grizzly bears, as well as so many other conservation efforts to protect biodiversity in the rainforest,” he says.

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These are all great restaurants to visit for food and drink alone, but the charitable nature adds an extra delicious and inspiring layer, doesn’t it?

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