Community relationship builder for non-profit restaurant

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Our non-profit restaurant, which is already struggling with reduced traffic due to downtown construction, is facing having our street closed for most of the summer. The end result will be a revitalized downtown in which the Sparta is a great fit! But first we have to survive the construction.

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS

In order to get through this, we plan to build relationships with people who not only eat lunch and breakfast or host meetings, but who may have an interest in sustaining the historic Sparta Restaurant and it mission.

Therefore, you would be contacting individuals and organizations, starting in the downtown area, and as time allows, expanding to Newark, Heath, and Granville. This would include:

• Business owners and employees
• Churches and other faith-based organizations
• City and county government staff, including agencies (Child Support, Job and Family, etc.) firefighters, jail staff, and other law enforcement staff
• Non-profit organizations and clubs, and their members, including those interested in social justice and historic preservation
• Construction workers
• People who live in or near downtown, including apartments for the elderly
• Your ideas here

COMMUNCATION

• Personal visits
• Telephone calls
• Social media (If you are not social-media savvy, you can submit your posts to another volunteer.)
• Events you set up
• Outside events you attend
• The Canal District Farmers Market

WHAT WE CAN OFFER THEM

• BOXED LUNCHES DELIVERED for meetings & events
• SCHEDULING THEIR MEETINGS at the Sparta Restaurant with the understanding that they may have to walk a few blocks, depending on the state of construction on the day of the meeting.
• LUNCH DELIVERY to employees, business owners, and organizations in the downtown area
• TO-GO LUNCHES if they can come by foot (with a map showing available routes to avoid construction)

For them to put in this extra effort, they need to understand that this is more than coffeeshop. It's a cause. We hope you can convey our story and generate compassion for our situation and an understanding of our mission. You would be trained on delivering our message.

We will welcome your input on creative ways to increase our customer base during this difficult transition. Your participation in our marketing team meetings would be very helpful.

You can do this work alone or with a partner. Feel free to recruit a friend if there is someone you'd enjoy working with.

If you know a lot of people, especially in the downtown area or leaders in the business, government, or social service arenas, that would be a big plus. If you want to build or strengthen those relationships, this would be a great way to accomplish that.

We need an initial big push to get the word out. After that, we hope to continue this work on a smaller scale.