New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
‘BRINGYOUROWN BLANKET’ CAMPAIGN GETTING AWARM RECEPTION
Effort aims to help restaurants stretch outdoor dining as long as possible
“People go outside to go to football games. ...
Why won’t people be cold to support their restaurants?” Max Barker, son of Gerry Barker, president and CEO of Barker Speciality Co. in Cheshire
If marketing man Gerry Barker, several chambers of commerce and restaurant owners from Branford to Cheshire to Middletown to Waterbury to Stamford have their way, restaurants all over Connecticut will keep serving meals outdoors well into the winter.
And well-bundled patrons will keep dining outside — and make an experience of it, BYOB.
But this type of BYOB — “Bring Your Own Blanket” — is a campaign to convince people to treat dining out like going to a football game — just dress warmly, go out to your favorite restaurant and have a good
time. Meanwhile, organizers want to help restaurants that have been hardhit by the coronavirus pandemic and provide an alternative for diners who still don’t feel comfortable sitting inside.
Barker, president and CEO of Barker Specialty
Co. in Cheshire, began a few weeks ago by pitching the idea of fostering a “paradigm shift” in the way people think about dining out to a friend at The
Stand, a restaurant in Branford.
Then the Waterbury Regional Chamber of Commerce, which covers a 14-town area, got on board and started sending “BYOB” signs out to its members and other restaurants in the area.
The Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce, which covers a 10-town area, then did the same — and the head of the Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce said his chamber will pursue the idea — with the Greater Bridgeport Regional Business Council, which runs the chambers of commerce for Bridgeport , Stratford and Trumbull, also looking at it.
Meanwhile the Stamford Chamber of Commerce has been independently organizing its own “BYO Blanket” campaign — and while the Greater New Haven
Chamber of Commerce hasn’t yet sought to replicate or jump on board with Barker’s effort, President and CEO Garrett Sheehan said he likes the idea.
“We’re putting up the signs as fast as we can,” said Barker. After coming up with the idea, “We decided just to do it right now with the Waterbury Chamber, to promote this.”
It was actually Barker’s son, Max, who came up with the idea, Barker said.
“He said, ‘People go outside to go to football games. ... Why won’t people be cold to support their restaurants?’ ” Barker said. “In Europe, you’re in Belgium or Latvia or Paris” and “people are sitting outside (even when it’s cold) because the restaurants are so small.”
Barker predicted, “It’s actually going to be done all over the state of Connecticut. We’re just kicking this off with the Waterbury Chamber of Commerce.”
Prior to approaching the Waterbury Chamber, “I spoke with The Stand and they embraced it and they’re on board,” he said.
While Barker is in the business of providing specialty items to help people promote their businesses, “This is not a moneymaking venture for Baker Specialty,” he said. Diners are being urged to bring their own blankets.
Barker said he was trying to come up with a way to help Connecticut’s res
taurants, which have been hard-hit by the pandemic.
“Changing perspectives of people is really hard,” he said. But just as one example, “I ski,” and when he does, “I’m in the cold and I’m eating in the cold and I don’t think twice about it.”
Amid the pandemic, many people “don’t want to be indoors, but we want to socialize — even if we’re sitting with our children or our friends,” Barker said. “I can see this being very positive. ... Suffering a little bit, being a little cold, is not the worst thing.
“We love the idea,” Barker said. “Every restaurant that we’ve gone to has just loved it.”
Rob Kauffman, co-owner of The Stand, said his initial conversation with Barker “was just him reaching out as a friend,” although “we buy our merchandise from him. ... It just was a very unique, cute idea — to do anything to help the restaurants throughout the Northeast; anywhere where it’s getting cold.
“It just was a creative way to get people to continue to eat outdoors,” Kauffman said. “I knew right away it was a very nice idea. It was a cute, cute thing.”
Like many restaurants, The Stand, located at 196 S. Montowese St. across the street from Lenny’s Indian Head Inn, has spent some money and done a fair amount of work to carve
out an inviting outdoor dining area because so many people are skittish about eating indoors even as state restrictions on indoor dining have eased.
The Stand currently has 12-14 tables beneath a tent, served by propane heaters, plus another six tables out beyond them.
Throughout the summer, the restaurant continued to present live music — but mostly solo artists and duos, compared to the bands that used to play indoors.
The idea has been that “especially on a weekend, (people would) come in and enjoy some live music and maybe have a cocktail and a good meal.”
Lynn Ward, president and CEO of the Greater Waterbury Chamber of Commerce, said Barker, who is a member of the chamber, first approached her the week before last.
“He called me Wednesday afternoon and by Friday we delivered 55 signs to restaurants in the Greater Waterbury area,” she said. “Jerry provided us the signs” and “developed a social media campaign. We’re posting pictures of the restaurants with the signs. We’re encouraging people to dine outdoors and bring the blankets.
“The reason we’re doing this is, we know how important the restaurants are” to the region and its economy, Ward said.