Guy Fieri Raises Over $20M For Out-Of-Work Restaurant Employees

Guy Fieri is a well-known celebrity, television personality, and restauranteur. When the stay-at-home orders were put in place, he saw that the restaurant industry was in for a struggle.

As the host of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, he has raised more than $20 million in a partnership with the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, according to TMC. The money will go to help restaurant workers that have been impacted by the pandemic.

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“My entire career has been in the restaurant business. From bussing tables to flambe captain to dishwasher to chef…I’ve done it all. I’ve also spent the better part of the last 15 years traveling this great country meeting other folks who’ve dedicated their lives to this business and let me tell you something, they are the hardest working, most real deal workers you’ve ever met…the heartbeats of their communities,” said @GuyFieri. Click the link in our bio to learn more and donate to our Restaurant Relief Fund, in partnership with #GuyFieri, to help restaurant workers impacted by COVID-19.

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“When I started thinking about my brothers and sisters in the restaurant business and a bunch of the restaurants that I was closing, I was thinking how we gotta do something,” Fieri said on TMZ Live last Thursday.

Since customers have not been dining in, the servers have basically been completely out of work because they rely on tips for most of their income. If a restaurant does stay open, take out orders are the only option in many cases so the kitchen staff has been seriously reduced.

That is where The Mayor of Flavortown comes in. He saw the need and knew where to focus his attention.

The National Restaurant Association had the ability to collect and distribute funds, and he knew that they would be a big help. He then got busy contacting “all the heavy hitter CEO’s that are involved in the restaurant business” to see if they could donate to the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund launched in March.

40,000 $500 grants have been approved in only two months. Those grants will help restaurant workers nationwide.

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When the application for our Restaurant Employee Relief Fund (RERF) is live, we will make an announcement on all of our social channels. For now, we are aware of the website issues and have been working on it! We hope you have an update for you soon. Thank you for your patience and stay tuned for more details.

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Although it is true that many restaurants have cut staff, they still need to pay the bills to stay open. Fieri is saying that we should support those “mom-and-pop” establishments at this time so they will still be there when the economy reopens.

“They need your take out, they need your delivery, they’re available, please go give them some business,” he said.

It is a concern of Fieri that the larger establishments will have a harder time coming back after the pandemic but he still is looking on the bright side.

“I think people are going to be fired up, gung ho and ready to get out there and visit their restaurants a lot more than they were prior to the pandemic,” he said.

The Mayor of Flavortown feels that the most important thing is to keep the cash coming in so that he can continue to put together grant money for restaurant workers.

You can visit Fieri’s Restaurant Employee Relief Fund website to make a donation or apply for a grant.