D.C. Restaurant Using Shutdown Time to Give Away Meals

Like millions of restaurants around the country, Little Sesame has shut down its two locations in Washington, DC, to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.

But Chefs Ronen Tenne and Nick Wiseman are not letting the crisis keep them from their love for sharing food with the community. For the past couple weeks, Little Seasame’s van has made its way to northeastern D.C. to a parking lot in front of now-shuttered Kelly Miller Middle School.

Restaurant staff are preparing boxed meals, and from 3 to 5 p.m. every weekday — or until they run out of food — they are passing them out to people in the neighborhood.

“Come on over,” a worker said to passersby who looked on with curiosity at the van, which features a fold-down door for serving customers.

The restaurant’s website explains their campaign:

We have made the very difficult decision to close Little Sesame beginning Monday, March 16th. We feel a responsibility to help flatten the curve and keep our community safe. The future is uncertain but in the short term we know two things: we want to take care of our team and serve food to our neighbors most in need. 

We will provide full pay and meals to team members and their families for the next two weeks. Our team is the lifeblood of our business and we stand by them during this difficult time. 

Many of our city’s residents live in underserved neighborhoods with limited access to fresh food. Little Sesame will supplement the emergency response of the city. With the help of our nonprofit partner Dreaming Out Loud (@doldc), we will drop nutritious meals to vulnerable communities during the closure. For every $10 gift card you purchase, we will serve a meal to a neighbor in need. 

Help us help our city! 

People who visited seemed appreciative of the pop-up food outlet, taking photos and smiling and waving as they left with their unexpected meal.

Follow Penny Starr on Twitter.