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Take-out with a side of TP: Restaurants get creative during coronavirus closures

This Orlando, Fla., business isn’t the only one offering toilet paper with purchases. Several restaurants in the Puget Sound region are offering up paper products and other perks with take-out orders to encourage customers to place orders.
John Raoux
/
The Associated Press
This Orlando, Fla., business isn’t the only one offering toilet paper with purchases. Several restaurants in the Puget Sound region are offering up paper products and other perks with take-out orders to encourage customers to place orders. ";

With restaurants and bars across Washington limited to delivery or to-go orders, to slow the spread of COVID-19, many of those establishments are trying to find creative ways to get customers to place orders.

Lupo and Norm’s Eatery & Alehouse, restaurants in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood, are offering a roll of toilet paper with their take-out orders. And in the South Sound, one non-restaurant business has offered a helping hand to several eateries in hopes to encourage customers to keep supporting local businesses. 

Chris Berglund is vice president of Washington Floral Service, a wholesale distributor in Tacoma. He says that with events being canceled and retailers he distributes to closing down, he had a lot of perishable product on his hands. So, he ended up donating hundreds of bouquets of flowers to South Sound restaurants and other businesses to give away to customers.

“I had product that had been over shipped from a farm that I was kind of sitting there staring at for most of the week," Berglund said. "We called and got in touch with some of the local businesses and went around and just donated a bunch of bouquets out to anybody who was going to be able to give them away as a little added carry-out item to go with their food.”

The recipients of these flowers include Wooden City in Tacoma, The Gourmet Burger Shop in Gig Harbor, Heritage Distilling in Gig Harbor, Blazing Onion Burgers in Gig Harbor and several others.

Whether it’s a roll of toilet paper or a bouquet of flowers that might be the additional nudge you need to place a take-out order, these restaurants are encouraging you to order sooner rather than later — as toilet paper and floral arrangements are limited.

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Kevin Kniestedt is a journalist, host and producer who began his career at KNKX in 2003. Over his 17 years with the station, he worked as a full time jazz host, a news host and produced the weekly show Sound Effect. Kevin has conducted or produced hundreds of interviews, has won local and national awards for newscasts and commentary.