Baltimore Proprietor Uses Annual Restaurant Week to Feed the Homeless

Courtesy of Tabrizi(BALTIMORE) — Restaurant week, when proprietors offer a three-course menu at a discounted price, is normally a way for restaurants to lure in new customers and, hopefully, drum up more business.

Baltimore restaurant Tabrizi’s is taking the opposite approach, though, by turning the city’s restaurant week into its own “Homeless Restaurant Week,” when the owner plans to close the Mediterranean restaurant to the public and feed 1,000 meals to the city’s homeless population over the course of six days.

“I live in the city and see homeless people all the time going home late night. I saw a sign a homeless man was holding at the traffic light [that read], ‘I am hungry, will work for food,’” owner Michael Tabrizi told ABC News. “I felt a warm urge to invite this person to my restaurant. I gave him my business card and told him to come and eat whenever he wants. Then I thought, ‘Why not invite all of them?’ So I did.”

So he did, partnering with Baltimore’s shelters to bring in as many homeless people as possible from July 20 to 25. The shelters will bus in people with volunteer drivers, and more than 200 people volunteered to work the week for free as greeters, buffet staff and servers.

“Our staff is volunteering, too, because they believe it’s a great cause. Management also offered a flat fee of $100 a shift from noon until 7 p.m. as an average income,” Tabrizi said. “Many employees declined; they want to do it for free.”

Tabrizi’s, which serves as a popular wedding venue in the Inner Harbor and serves dinner to the public, will close completely that week to serve the 1,000 all-you-can-eat meals of chicken Cordon Bleu, salad, sparkling apple cider and ice cream in a waffle cone cup at 1, 3 and 5 p.m. daily

“It feels right, it looks right and it tastes right! Seeing happy shiny eyes of a forgotten homeless person is priceless. Giving the homeless a feeling of hope and respect is everything they want,” Tabrizi said. “I receive hundreds of emails a days from people across the country and overseas commending this gesture.

“My reply to all these kind people is to do one good [deed] to a stranger every day, even a smile. It goes a long way.”