At this point in our pandemic journey, you might be used to cooking breakfast, lunch, dinner most days of the week. You might have even lulled yourself into a false sense of security with neat little Tupperware stacks of meal-prep in the fridge. But the Dallas restaurants, bars, and food bloggers implore you: put the grilled chicken and broccoli down. As local spots continue to struggle, takeout orders have plateaued and many restaurants have been forced to shut down for good.
Over a month ago, Val Jean Bart of Val’s Cheesecakes put out the call to his food-media contacts, asking “How can I help, what can I do, what are the resources we have as a community?” Thirty-some-odd influencers and bloggers brainstormed what tools they had at their disposals. The result: Takeout Tuesday DFW.
Takeout Tuesday is a social media–based initiative currently run by a group of 30 to 40 bloggers and influencers based in DFW who rallied together to organize takeout deals every Tuesday. The Instagram account divides and conquers by neighborhood, bringing together options from one Dallas-proper neighborhood and one suburb every Tuesday.
Dallas food writer, who goes by the nom de plume, Foodbitch currently manages the account. Their strategy, she explains, is to encourage people in Dallas to support their local restaurants and to shine a spotlight on places off the beaten path. “This last week, there were places in Desoto that have not gotten any attention from media or anything like that that really could use the help,” she says.
Projects like this, which are born entirely of the collective passion to help our favorite restaurants survive, can really help these troubled neighborhood haunts in tough times. Foodbitch stressed simple and straightforward takeout options as key to driving customers through the door. “Like the kits from Ese Pollo, where people are picking up a chicken and then two other things like margs and queso,” she says, “You have three package choices, and you just get it and go—very simple.” The Takeout Tuesday team uses this streamlined strategy for each restaurant it works with to create a simplified takeout offering—think snack kits and discounted meal combos. Then they create graphics and promote the specials.
Now in its fifth week, the project has hit its stride, bringing boosts in sales to many participants. Val’s Cheesecake saw the “sales of a Saturday on a Tuesday” during the Lower Greenville week.
Gear up for next Takeout Tuesday on September 8 which will cover options in East Dallas/Lakewood and Arlington. You can expect, among other great offerings, to see BuzzBrews, Snowbaby, and Cane Rosso rolling out their own special packages to save you from meal-prep mediocrity. Be sure to keep up with @takeouttuesdaydfw on Instagram or Facebook for updates on participating restaurants and neighborhoods every Tuesday.
