SAN FRANCISCO—A volunteer delivery organization, North Beach Delivers, has been delivering food for North Beach neighborhood restaurants each week free of charge.
The City and County of San Francisco’s initial shelter-in-place orders on March 16 forced restaurants to operate with only delivery and take-out service. The city gradually allowed additional categories of businesses to resume, including outdoor dining. Officials announced that indoor dining would resume in July. Due to a surge in cases, the State of California required the indefinite closure of all indoor activity on July 13.
“After the shelter in place our sales dropped 95%,” said restaurant owner Kristi Lau of Noren Izakaya in an interview with ABC 7 SF.
North Beach Delivers was established by members of the North Beach Neighbors, a North Beach community organization. They can be reached via their website, www.northbeachdelivers.com, Facebook, and Instagram.
Every Thursday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., the team delivers orders from a featured restaurant operating in the neighborhoods of North Beach, Nob Hill, Russian Hill, and the Financial District. The name of the featured restaurant is posted on the Facebook and Instagram pages of North Beach Delivers every Tuesday morning. Customers have until 9:41 p.m. on Wednesday to order for Thursday delivery.
“We’re a team of neighbors who dedicate our time each week to equip our beloved North Beach Restaurants with teams to handle free delivery,” the organization’s website read. They deliver by car, bike, and on foot. As of August 3, the organization raised over $40,000 in revenue for North Beach restaurants.
The SF Gate spoke to Danny Sauter, a volunteer of North Beach Delivers who is also a candidate for District 3 supervisor. He said that the team typically averages “40 to 50 orders every time we partner with a restaurant.” He added that business has become increasingly busy.
In an expression of gratitude, restaurant owner Kristy Lau said: “That was the biggest night we had since shelter in place. Danny and his entire team did such a great job for the community. I mean I don’t know what more to say other than, ‘thank you.”
North Beach Delivers intends to continue operations until the end of the pandemic. The area of delivery changes week to week, and may expand.
“Our hope is that if anyone wants to bring this to their neighborhood just get in touch with us we will help train you we will help kind of turnover the keys on how to do this,” Sauter said.
