KANSAS CITY, Mo. — We know Kansas City loves our local T-shirts, but we also love our local restaurants.
Now, a group of Kansas City folks are hoping you'll combine the two to help struggling hospitality workers hit hard by stay-at-home orders because of COVID-19.
When you buy the shirt that reads "Kansas City runs on hospitality!" the net proceeds go to local restaurants to support hospitality workers.
They cost $25 each and they have already raised more than $3,000 for the industry.
Local restaurants can sign up to receive a portion of the proceeds and Anna Petrow, one of the organizers, said at least 60 restaurants have signed up.
She agreed the situation is dire for many local restaurants.
"I think we were seeing probably the most thriving restaurant and hospitality scene that we’ve experiencde in Kansas City in decades, and we had hit this amazing stride and to see it all come to a screeching halt has been really devastating for a lot of people," Petrow said.
Petrow is a photographer based in Kansas City who works closely with several local restaurants.
"These restaurant workers are still out there on the front lines making sure we have food to eat," she said.
Petrow said the proceeds are divided evenly among the restaurants when a shirt is purchased from the main website. If you buy a shirt from a restaurant's link, proceeds would go to that restaurant.
They also have a virtual tip jar on the site. Proceeds from that will also be evenly distributed to the restaurants and will be managed by Kanbes Markets.
Danielle Lehman of "The Open Belly Podcast," Kanbes Markets, Tyler Enders and Frank Norton are behind the effort along with Petrow.
Norton created the design for the shirt.
We've created a Facebook group, We're Open Kansas City, where members of the community can post businesses serving their community.
