This year has been extraordinarily challenging for restaurants. At the beginning of the COVID crisis, dining rooms across the nation closed. Then, as shelter in place orders began to lift, our restaurant partners started to welcome guests back, with many limited to outdoor patios. Now, with winter weather fast approaching, restaurants are facing a new challenge: lower temperatures in much of the country that threaten outdoor dining and put even more pressure on indoor spaces. With that in mind, today, at the DoorDash Main Street Strong Conference, we are announcing our latest Main Street Strong initiative, helping restaurants prepare for the winter months ahead.
We are allocating $2M in cold weather grants for local restaurants with three or fewer locations in select cities, chosen based on a number of factors, including local climate, limits on indoor dining, and local population. These $5,000 grants will be administered by Hello Alice, and can be directed towards implementing changes necessary to adapt to colder temperatures, such as buying heating equipment, additional Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for increased indoor dining, and more.
It is our hope that these grants, available in Chicago, Denver, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and San Jose, will help our restaurant partners adjust to the winter season. Eligible restaurants will be located in these select cities with three or fewer locations operating currently, 50 employees or fewer in 2019, and $3M or less in 2019 annual revenue per store. Restaurants can apply on the Hello Alice website starting October 16th.
We know that in cities across the country, the coming months will create new challenges for restaurants and we’re ready to be part of the solution.
In addition, to help restaurants across the U.S. and Canada adapt to the cooler months, we are launching a nationwide effort to help further strengthen and grow restaurant sales. This includes running “Winter Wednesday” promotions through the season, beginning with $0 delivery fees on orders for local restaurants every Wednesday in December and additional discounts for DashPass customers throughout the same month, to help increase sales for our local partners. Additionally, we are providing restaurant partners with access to discounted cold-weather equipment that will enable customers to more comfortably dine outdoors, and providing restaurants with educational materials on best practices to help them feel safe and confident.
As part of this initiative, we’re also pleased to:
Extend the promotional period for DoorDash Storefront, our commission-free online ordering system, to new and existing merchant partners with five or fewer locations through March 31, 2021.*
Support Dashers while they dash by offering new cold weather gear. Dashers will get more details on this effort by email.
Our Main Street Strong relief efforts thus far have helped restaurants save approximately $120 million since mid-March, and the odds of staying open during the COVID-19 pandemic are 6x better for restaurants on DoorDash compared to U.S. restaurants as a whole. In fact, nearly two-thirds of operators say they were able to increase profits during COVID-19 because of DoorDash. We’re proud of our work supporting restaurants, and our winterization initiative is a natural extension of efforts to help our restaurant partners survive and feed their local communities.
As we face our new normal, it is critical that we come together to help the restaurants that mean so much to our communities. As always, we are deeply committed to supporting our merchant partners and helping them navigate these difficult times.
*DoorDash Storefront Offer Terms & Conditions: There are no activation, subscription, or delivery fees through March 2021 for restaurants with five or fewer locations in the US and Canada. Storefront account must be set up by 12/31/2020 to qualify for offer.
