The Monadnock Restaurant Project began with a dream, when Chef and businessman, Luca Paris, spoke to his board at Culinary Journeys. Not too long after that, the organization began buying $10,000 of gift certificates from 28 area restaurants.
From The Monadnock Restaurant Project
This project will invest $10,000 to purchase gift cards from participating locally-owned restaurants. We plan to strategically disperse these gift cards to community members through partnering businesses. These businesses will share gift cards with their staff who will be asked to spend these cards quickly, providing an immediate shot in the arm to Keene’s local economy this winter.
“It could be a really rough few months for our fellow restaurateurs and if we don’t do something soon, we could lose some of the businesses on the edge,” said Luca Paris, owner of Luca’s Mediterranean Café. “We can’t wait for someone else to help us. Eat, drink and build community! Let’s do this as a community—quickly and safely.”
We anticipate that community members will spend twice the amount of their gift cards when redeemed, doubling the impact of this project by infusing $20,000 to these cash-strapped businesses.
According to the Monadnock Indie Impact Study, locally owned retailers return 62.4% of their revenue to the local economy, while national chain retailers return just 13.6% of revenue—meaning that locally owned businesses return over 4x more money to the local economy compared to chain retailers.
Here is a video from The Machina Kitchen & ArtBar…
And from The Brickhouse Pizza and Wings…
“Appreciation” isn’t even a strong enough word to describe what it means to this community… to us… Thank you! Thank you for all you are doing for our community! We are truly Blessed here in Cheshire county!❤️
