Great Plates
Delivering Restaurant Meals to the High-Risk and Home-Bound
by Holly Madrigal
At 85, Gail has a heart condition that could likely be fatal if she were to contract the coronavirus, so she took the shelter-in-place order very seriously. Her previously full life soon had shrunk to her small two-bedroom in the hills above Mendocino. But a knock on her door lets her know that a hot meal awaits her on the porch. The Great Plates Delivered program has become a friendly, nourishing lifeline for Gail and her peers who are medically vulnerable, providing three meals a day, and prepared by local restaurants at no cost to the recipient.
This same time last year, the pandemic shut-down had begun in earnest, and we were all sheltering in place, quite unsure of how the virus was spread, how we could continue to work, or how long it would last. “I found myself honestly not knowing how the restaurant would survive,” says Meredith Smith, owner of both Mendocino Café and Flow Restaurant. “I’m usually an optimistic person, and I’m used to the balancing act required by being a restaurant owner. You make your money in the summer season to carry you through the lean months of winter. But I honestly could see no options.”
Alfonso at Eggheads prepares and packs meals.
The shelter-in-place order came in March, when travel was already significantly down after a summer plagued by smoky skies from inland wildfires, and following the PSPS electrical shut down the prior fall, which had cost local restaurants thousands of dollars in losses. The pandemic spring of 2020 simply seemed like one challenge too many. “I became obsessed with watching the news and following the political process of the pandemic relief,” says Meredith. “When the PPP loans were announced, I jumped on that before the deadlines were even finalized.” But that government assistance was a double-edged sword. The money initially had to be spent within 60 days and only on certain categories such as payroll, but many employees were receiving more money to stay home (to keep the pandemic from spreading) through enhanced unemployment. “We made it work somehow. We were seriously in debt by that point. I had maxed out all my credit cards to keep the business afloat, vendors were losing patience, and I was at the end of my rope.” This experience was not unique to Mendocino Café, as most local businesses struggled to adjust to the crisis.
“When I heard that FEMA had funded the Great Plates Delivered program, we worked with Supervisor Ted Williams to get the program started here. It saved us,” says Meredith. Using the spacious kitchen at Flow Restaurant, also owned by Meredith, they were able to continue to employ eight people who otherwise would have been laid off. Flow has outdoor seating, but the layout requires guests to pass through the restaurant to reach the open space. “It just didn’t seem safe with the current restrictions, so we’re doing the Great Plates out of this space and it works really well,” says Lilah Nelson, Meredith’s daughter, who coordinates the program for 60-70 clients. The staff and chefs craft three quality meals a day, which are then delivered to the clients who are sheltering in place. For many, they not only receive nourishing healthy meals, but they also welcome the minimal human connection.
Many of the elderly clients have dietary restrictions such as gluten-free (GF), no grapefruit (interferes with blood pressure medication), vegetarian, and vegan. Flow’s kitchen has a gluten-free fryer, which is a huge asset. This means that they can make French fries, sweet potato fries, chicken tenders, and more that can be eaten by those with a gluten allergy.
During prep time at Flow one recent morning, Chef Jack was preparing GF mushroom gravy for roast chicken breast, vegetables, and mashed potatoes for dinner, quesadillas with fresh salsa for lunch, and fresh fruit, yogurt, and granola for breakfast. “I’ve been enjoying stretching my vegan dishes. We can use the Beyond Burger, which is quite good because I can crumble it up with my own spices. We have a vegan chicken breast we can use as well, and occasionally we use jackfruit. I like the challenge. There is a cool aspect to it where I can create something delicious that meets the needs of these clients,” says Jack. Lilah impressively tracks the daily changes to the client roster. “We’ve been doing this for seven months now, and it’s been great. It changes every day, so we work it like a puzzle. And it helps that we have so many dishes on our menu already here at Flow, so the cooks have a lot to work with. And we’re still doing take out for the public,” adds Lilah.
Anyone who has squeezed into one of the five booths at Eggheads Restaurant in Fort Bragg knows that they are pros at getting a lot out of a small space. The Wizard of Oz-themed breakfast and lunch spot regularly has a forty-minute wait for a table all summer long, but this year changed all that. Becky and Marvin Parrish, owners of this favorite local spot, saw all possibility of income drain away as indoor dining was prohibited. “We can do take out, but even when some places were able to partially open indoors, that was just not an option for us—25% would be only 10 people,” says Becky. “I was watching the Governor’s daily briefings, and he announced the Great Plates Delivered program. It came in the nick of time, as I had just spent the last dime of the PPP loan. I reached out to the County Adult and Aging Services, and they signed us up. Cucina Verona in Fort Bragg was already on board, and we were able to take on another 30-35 local clients.” The program not only allowed the staff of ten people to stay employed, but they were eager for a challenge.
Previous to this program, Eggheads had served only breakfast and lunch, but now dinner was on the table. “The kitchen staff stepped up, creating all sorts of dishes—stroganoff, soups, roast chicken served several ways . . . We have the best staff on the planet,” says Becky. “One of our cooks really wanted to try baking, so now they regularly produce zucchini bread, pumpkin bread, and pies.” They work with Food Runners to deliver three times a day. “One of the unexpected gifts of this program is the happiness it brings the clients,” says Marvin. “For some of these folks, it’s the only time in their day they see anyone. If the delivery guys notice that food has been left on the porch or not eaten, we will check on them to make sure everything is alright.” One client joked that her doctor said she is the healthiest she has ever been. It seems three sturdy meals a day has had a great impact. Becky chokes up as she remembers one client’s daughter reaching out to say that “Mom had beat cancer, and having wonderful food to eat each day helped make that happen.”
It seems the ripples of community reach far beyond the often precarious bank accounts of local restaurants. The employees, staff, and drivers that craft these meals each day have a way to safely continue to work, and the clients are receiving that human connection that can stave off not just hunger but loneliness and depression. An average 1,710 meals are served daily to 896 individuals. Seven restaurants in Mendocino County have participated in the program, including Angelina’s in Fort Bragg and Wild Fish in Little River, with $5,600,000 of direct contract payments coming into Mendocino County to help them weather this crisis, funding 221,519 meals to feed local seniors.
Unless something changes, the program is due to sunset on March 8th, 2021, after nearly a year of supporting countless local families. Great Plates Delivered has supplied meals, saved jobs, and provided human contact during a difficult time, more than earning the “great” in its title.
