A year ago April, when there was no such thing as shelter in place orders and calories were the worst thing about eating out, Lovies BBQ in Buckhead pulled in $120,000 in revenue.
Last month, not so much. Lovies sales fell to around $20,000, managing partner Nate Newman said.
He couldn’t be more fulfilled.
That’s because over the past month, Lovies’ fans have used the restaurant to donate thousands of meals to emergency medical technicians, hospital staff and other first responders. Donors included loyal Lovies customers, local businesses and students at Atlanta schools. They bought meals for as few as five people to hundreds at a time.
“When we fired up the smokers, people just came out and asked, ‘How can we help?’” said Newman, who called it a grassroots effort. “Partly some of them wanted to help a small business, but others wanted to support the community. It’s a very cool and humbling thing.”
Lovies is not alone. The national outpouring of food to thank first responders has been so great that hospitals and fire departments across the country have had to coordinate when the meals are delivered or re-direct them to food banks.
Newman said giving was not the restaurant’s initial plan when restaurants were closed across the state in March. He and his partners attempted to attract delivery business — which was allowed under the state rules — but operating costs were greater than demand.
Tracie Maloney, vice president at Jim Ellis Audi dealerships in Atlanta and Marietta, said the company was looking for a way to show its support for frontline workers and thought Lovies was the perfect conduit.
“When our owner, Jimmy Ellis asked us to think of ways to show gratitude to our health care workers, it made sense to do that through some of our longtime clients in the local restaurant industry,” she said of Lovies. “We looked at this as a win, win, win for all.”
Ashley Gardner, a frequent customer, said he and four friends pulled together several thousand dollars to buy meals for donations.
Our goal was two-fold, to get out there and help provide assistance for those who are out there putting themselves in danger and to help local small businesses,” he said.
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