Maple Tree Inn Flips Carryout Orders Into Needed Donations

HOMEWOOD, IL – MARCH 26 – The Maple Tree Inn owners are following up their own “carryout” announcement last week with a #GIFTTHEGLOVES campaign to provide front-line responders Nitrile gloves with a small donation.

At Wednesday’s launch, carryout customers were nearly unanimous in donating $6 to send a box of 100 gloves to first responders battling COVID-19. Call in customers added it to their credit card order.

Friday, owners Katie and Erich Wennberg deliver the first of the donated boxes to the Homewood Fire Department and Franciscan Health Olympia Fields to fulfill resource needs.

Customers arrived in waves - physically separated - to get their pickup order dinners strategically displayed with generous spacing along the bar. Just as briskly they departed clutching the loops of the shopping bags.

“We at the Maple Tree are among the lucky ones because our branding brings customers to our door and they, in turn, are looking for answers and ways to give that will have an immediate impact on this pandemic,” said Erich Wennberg. “People have been very generous.”

Carryout orders continue Wednesday through Sunday from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 18849 Dixie Highway, Homewood, Illinois; 708-388-3461. Credit cards only.

The Wennbergs used their industry connections to secure the personal protective equipment (ppe) and envision having enough of the product to disseminate to health care workers, first responders, veterinarians, and all others locally going to battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The launching of the #GIFTTHEGLOVES initiative began Wednesday, but the idea was percolating between the owners for days and led to “extensive research” so there was a certainty they’d be able to procure at least 40,000- 4 mil Nitrile gloves.

“We will coordinate with local government, hospitals, veterinarians, nursing homes, and those in need, to ensure quick and safe delivery,” said the Wennbergs in their Facebook launch. “We will also match the donations, box for box. Call in, place your take out order, and simply tell the server to add a box of gloves. We will handle the rest. Together, we can, and must, help our first responders safely battle this pandemic.”

The Maple Tree Inn owners and staff have been working with local leaders, health authorities and the Illinois Restaurant Association to prepare “a rigid procedure for call-in and pick-up service” designed to keep customers from standing in line, while remaining six feet apart and inside the restaurant’s entrance for only minutes at a time. There is no delivery service at this time but food runners are available for parking lot delivery at the Maple Tree Inn.

"First and foremost, we want to protect the health of our customers and our own staff," Erich Wennberg said. "This a fluid situation and we are doing everything we’re told by the experts while creating opportunities to get meals to residents in our community.”

Maple Tree Inn: Opened in 1975, the Maple Tree Inn committed exclusively to Cajun/Creole cuisine in the early 1980s and established a passionate, loyal following. The Maple Tree Inn was named to the Top 50 Best Southern Restaurants in America by OpenTable in 2018.

The Maple Tree Inn patrons who have dining-in reservations during March and April are encouraged to reschedule those reservations through: www.opentable.com/r/maple-tree-inn-homewood or http://www.mapletreeinnrestaurant.com.