For every meal purchased, Twigs will donate one to area healthcare workers
VANCOUVER — If you were able to visit the newly constructed Vancouver waterfront before the COVID-19 pandemic began, you probably had the opportunity to visit Twigs Bistro and Martini Bar.
In a time of layoffs and uncertain futures in the restaurant world, Twigs is facing the storm by blessing those fighting on the frontlines. In other words, “Buy a Meal, Give a Meal.”
“The support from the community and the excitement from the community has been awesome,” said Todd MacLean, Twigs’ general manager. “Obviously everyone right now is having to learn a new way of doing things. I guess I never even imagined that we’d be in a situation like that.”
For every meal purchased at Twigs, MacLean and his team will prepare and donate another to area hospitals PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center and Legacy Salmon Creek.
Even with the stay-at-home orders and the stoppage of normal restaurant operations, Twigs is accepting take-out orders as well as deliveries through DoorDash.
“We talked about a bunch of different outreaches in the community, and you got the healthcare workers kind of out there on the frontline of this pandemic, putting in long hours and putting themselves at risk,” MacLean said. “We were kind of thinking of what are ways that we can, you know, just give back to our local community, and that seemed like the best fit for what’s going on right now.”
Due to the pandemic, MacLean, who has been with the company for eight and a half years, explained how he has gone from a restaurant staff of close to 100, down to essentially five. The Twigs family has never faced anything like this before, he said.
“It feels like a new day, every day, something changes everyday,” he said. “You wouldn’t think of ‘Okay, well, we had to lay everyone off and, and we’re just trying to keep the doors open, let’s let’s start giving away food.’ You know, but at the same time, we’re thankful that we’re still here.”
The meals being delivered to hospitals are in accordance with social distancing and proper delivery methods. Each meal is prepared in a manner that it can be picked-up and eaten by a healthcare worker whenever they have time; much like a lunch to-go.
MacLean shared how many area companies and residents on the waterfront have already begun supporting them. The Murdoch Trust, which is an “essential” business with a new office building on the waterfront, bought a huge order of lunch for the whole staff yesterday MacLean said. They were pleased to find out it was the first day of the donations.
“Our hope is that we get back to doing what we do best,” he said. “We create experiences, we do it with food and drinks, but essentially that’s what we’re doing. We’re here to facilitate people’s first dates, anniversaries, marriage proposals, 21st birthday, you know, or just people going out and just having a Friday night. We want to get back to doing that.”
As a gesture of goodwill and to solidify their resolve to do this, Twigs delivered 50 meals just to start on April 1; 25 going to each hospital. Moving forward, MacLean said they hope to help more hospitals, and donate more to the community.
