BRADENTON, Fla. — Two well-known Bradenton area restaurants have temporarily converted from serving customers in their upscale dining rooms to bringing groceries directly to their cars.
- Pier 22, Grove offering curbside grocery pickup
- Restaurant wholesalers not allowed to sell to grocery stores, have food that isn't being used
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PIER 22 and GROVE restaurants began offering the services in late March. Customers can place an order on the restaurants' websites and pick it up during a scheduled time the following day.
Right now, they’re offering roughly 140 staples include meats, produce, cabinet staples and paper products.
Executive Chef Greg Campbell said the idea came to him the day after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order pushing all restaurants to close their dining rooms.
“I had gone to Publix and had an abysmal experience. No wipes or anything, just congested with people,” he said.
In an effort to bring business to the suppliers and broadeners that PIER 22 works with, he decided the two sister restaurants would start offering curbside grocery pickup with products supplied by their wholesalers.
As Campbell explained, the suppliers that sell to restaurants are different from the ones that stock grocery store shelves. Restaurant wholesalers for the most part are not permitted to sell to grocery stores and have massive amounts of food that isn’t being used right now.
“They’re sitting on millions of pounds of food and thousand of cases of toilet paper,” Campbell explained.
By offering this no-contact grocery service, Campbell says they can keep paying their distributors while restaurants are closed to dining.
To place an order, visit pier22.com or grovelwr.com.