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Chef Rick Bayless Hiring Out Of Work Restaurant Staff To Process Food Boxes For Fellow Employees

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Celebrity chef Rick Bayless is helping laid-off restaurant staff with a program to provide jobs and food while they're out of work due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Fifteen laid-off restaurant workers will be paid to sort boxes of food from supplier US Foods at his shuttered Frontera Grill restaurant in River North, will process 800 boxes per week to help stock the pantries of other workers at his restaurants, as well as at least five partner restaurants. The boxes will contain dried goods, produce, bread, poultry, and meat.

The food will be available for pickup at Frontera Grill, and will be distributed to other restaurants, including Antique Taco in Bridgeport, Carnitas Uruapan in Pilsen, Honey Butter Fried Chicken in Avondale, Rome's Joy Catering in Bronzeville, and Lula Cafe in Logan Square.

"As soon as restaurants began to shutter, our thoughts immediately turned to getting food to the most vulnerable people in our industry. This project can touch the lives of many thousand displaced workers," Bayless said in a news release.

The project is funded by a $250,000 anonymous donation, in partnership with Rosemont-based US Foods.

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