Carmine's Sells Signature Sauce To Raise Money For 450 Employees

UPPER WEST SIDE, MANHATTAN — Longtime Upper West Side Italian restaurant Carmine's is selling its signature marinara sauce for the first time to help its more than 450 employees who are out of work during the coronavirus pandemic.

The 32-ounce jars of sauce — available online or for pick up at their flagship Broadway restaurant — is part of the restaurant's employee relief fund, which has already raised more than $22,000 for workers at its Upper West Side and Times Square locations.

Carmine's closed down both of its large-scale dining rooms on March 15, two days before the statewide mandated closure of bars and restaurants to dine-in customers, putting its hundreds of employees out of work.

"This includes over 450 cooks, bartenders, barbacks, servers, bussers, porters, managers, chefs, hosts, and many more," the restaurant wrote. "These are the people who have cooked your dinner, prepared your drinks, waited your tables and made your special occasions unforgettable."

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The sauce sale, first reported by I Love The Upper West Side blog, will give 100 percent of the profits from the $15 jars to the employee relief fund.

The restaurant is also donating 50 percent of gift card sales to the fund and $5 from each sale of their cookbooks.

Carmine's first opened their 2450 Broadway restaurant on the Upper West Side in 1990. The eatery now has locations in Times Square, Atlantic City, Washington D.C., Las Vegas and in the Bahamas.

The sauce sales will benefit employees from all locations. Separate GoFundMe's have been set up for the different restaurants, including one specifically for Carmine's workers in New York City.

It is one of several fundraisers that have been set up to help New York City's restaurant industry during the stay-at-home order. Local business improvement districts have also thrown their efforts behind restaurants by keeping track of which businesses are still open, if only for delivery, and how best to help them.

"Any contribution, large or small is greatly appreciated," Carmine's wrote. "We look forward to opening our doors and welcoming everyone back in to our home once permitted."

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