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Welcome to AM Intel in the time of coronavirus, a round-up of the city’s newest bits of restaurant-related intel. Follow Eater on Facebook and Twitter for up-to-date details on how COVID-19 is impacting the city’s dining scene.
Mark Cuban offers advice for restaurants during the pandemic
In an interview with Fox Business, Dallas Mavericks owner and billionaire Mark Cuban offered advice on how restaurants can survive during the coronavirus pandemic. According to Cuban, restaurants will have to “reconfigure” the inside of their restaurants to make people more comfortable even as social distancing guidelines are relaxed. The Shark Tank investor also suggested that restaurant owners should be figuring out how to “sanitize and sterilize” their businesses so that they’re ready and able to open as soon as things return to the new “normal.”
Dating site Match.com donates $30k to Pecan Lodge charity
Dallas-based dating site Match has pledged a $15,000 donation to the Dinner Bell Foundation, a charity just formed by Pecan Lodge owners Diane and Justin Fourton. Per a press release, the company will also match up to $15,000 in donations from Dallasites in the coming weeks, for a total donation of $30,000. “It means the world to us for companies and individuals to see the importance of what we are doing,” Diane Fourton said in a statement. “Their pledge of $30,000 will provide free meals to more than 5,000 first responders and healthcare workers and, perhaps more importantly, lift the spirits of those serving on the front lines of this crisis.”
Lakewood patio destination The Lot shutters permanently
With patio season effectively cancelled due to the pandemic, Lakewood’s The Lot has officially closed its doors. According to the Dallas Morning News, the restaurant couldn’t weather the financial storm caused by the pandemic, because it “relied heavily” on the spring season to stay in business. “We were going along hoping spring would be a great season for us this year,” owner John McBride told the paper. “When you take days or weeks out of that season, it becomes virtually impossible.
