POCATELLO — Local architect Ted Booth plans to place a large lunch order from Tom's Gyros on Wednesday and will deliver the food to the staff at Physicians Immediate Health Care.

Booth explained it's a way of spotlighting and supporting a business that's struggling amid the coronavirus crisis, while also thanking a group of workers who are on the front lines of responding to the pandemic.

Such creative plans to help recently unemployed workers and business owners that have lost the bulk of their customers amid the outbreak have been gaining traction throughout the community.

Local firefighters, the owner of The Sand Trap Bar & Grill and Kendra Rone State Farm Insurance are teaming up on Friday to host their second Bannock BBQ fundraiser for the Idaho Food Bank. Furthermore, the owner of Sandpiper Restaurant has issued a challenge to other restaurant owners, urging them to award gift certificates to customers who post the best photographs on Facebook of their families enjoying local take-out meals.

"If we can get some exposure for places like Tom's and Physicians, hopefully somebody else will stand up and do the same," Booth said. "Hopefully, it will get the ball rolling and get a positive movement going."

Booth said his wife, Tammie, came up with the idea of supporting two local businesses with one gesture. A family friend works for Physicians Immediate Care, 495 Yellowstone Ave. He also worries restaurants such as Tom's Gyros, 150 N. Third Ave., may not survive the disruption.

Gov. Brad Little issued an order March 25 for non-essential businesses to close and the public to stay at home, except when a trip is absolutely necessary. Restaurants must close their dining rooms and serve food only for carry-out or delivery.

"It's a positive approach with so much negativity out there ... to help out right now an underdog," Booth said.

Feeding a really big family

Sandpiper Restaurant, 1400 Bench Road, started making free deliveries to Pocatello addresses on Saturday to supplement its carry-out orders, now that the dining room has closed due to coronavirus.

Owner Rod Russell has created a special menu and rolled his prices back to what he used to charge 15 years ago, and he's been throwing in a complimentary salad. Nonetheless, he estimates he's been bringing in just 10 percent of his usual business.

Rather than allowing his inventory to go to waste, he's been having his chefs make special meals just for other employees, who can order them for pickup to serve to their families.

"When you've done this for as long as we have, they're like family," Russell said.

Regular customers have also become like family to Russell and his staff. Just before the dining room closed, a few regulars were giving his servers $100 tips.

Russell understands that people frequent a favorite restaurant as much for the dining experience as for a meal. Seeking to make carry-out orders from local eateries a bit more memorable, he's come up with the Great Takeout Challenge.

Sandpiper is encouraging take-out customers to post fun and imaginative images of their families enjoying take-out from a local restaurant, tagging the restaurant of choice on Facebook. He's encouraging other restaurants to offer prizes for their favorite submissions.

For example, he said a family might dress up a child as a waiter, serving take-out to parents and siblings. Staging a Monday night football watch party might be another fun option, he said.

Russell intends to choose a weekly winner and give away gift certificates to feed a family of four once he's allowed to reopen his dining area. He's pitched the concept to owners of a few other local eateries, such as Villano's Italian and Mama Inez.

Russell said he hasn't laid off any workers, though their hours are down. Some have been clocking in to help with a deep cleaning of the restaurant.

"We're losing money like crazy, but we want to tough it out," Russell said.

Barbecue for a good cause

The staff at Kendra Rone State Farm Insurance, 4741 S. Afton, Chubbuck, tapped into the community's generosity in a big way on Friday, when they hosted a fundraiser for the Idaho Food Bank called Bannock BBQ.

The Sand Trap Bar & Grill, 2720 Bannock Highway, prepared meals at 60 percent of the usual rate for the event. Rone's staff sold the meals for $15 each. Off-duty first-responders with the North Bannock County Fire Department and other are fire departments agreed to make deliveries.

Matt Spaletta, advertising and marketing specialist with the State Farm office, said donors contributed enough money in advance to cover 75% of the meal costs. The fundraiser generated about $8,000 to donate to the Idaho Food Bank, with more than half of the total coming from customers' "tips" beyond the meal price.

"One person tipped us $500. We got multiple $100 tips. We had quite a few $50s," Spaletta said. "Probably a good 75% of orders included the cost of what would be one extra sandwich."

Many customers included notes in their orders indicating they'd be willing to support another Bannock BBQ.

With that in mind, the partners plan to host a second fundraiser from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday. Corey Wight, owner of The Sand Trap, said his kitchen will prepare meals of pulled chicken or pork, red cabbage coleslaw and kettle chips.

Orders will be accepted via bannockbbq.com or by calling Kendra Rone State Farm at 208-637-8090.

Wight said he hasn't laid off any workers, and he thanked his customers for supporting his business through their carry-out orders.

"We've been getting tons of people who are trying to support us however they can," Wight said.