delhi

Updated: Sep 17, 2017 17:38 IST

Restaurants in Delhi-NCR are known for great food and nightlife, but did you know that they have a philanthropic side, too? Going a step ahead in giving back to the society, some eateries are winning hearts by organising special drives for the underprivileged. A few places are arranging entertaining performances whereas others are opening their doors for the lesser privileged.

If you land at Gurgaon’s Warehouse Cafe on a Sunday noon and see a group enjoying their meal enthusiastically, know that the place is organising a Social Sunday. “Every fortnight, from 12 noon onwards, we invite people from different backgrounds to treat them to scrumptious food, and also provide them a dose of entertainment. Being close to the society and to be close to the needy was our target since the inception of this place three years ago,” says, Anshul Aggarwal, owner, Warehouse Cafe, adding that the cafe has so far organised three successful Social Sundays with NGOs Samarth, Eklavya and Gaurav.

A music session in progress at Warehouse Cafe, Gurgaon, as part of Social Sunday.

“We thought of getting in touch with non-profit organisations, and it has been a tremendous experience to be close to people who are driving change in our society. We serve them continental food and also call comedians to entertain them. We have also set up a drop box where people can donate clothes and books for the underprivileged. Hope we inspire others, too,” says Aggarwal.

Di Ghent Cafe, Gurgaon too has been donating around 400 plates of food every month to the underprivileged children in Gurgaon. Anita from Di Ghent Cafe, says, “FeedOn is an organisation run by a handful of children in Gurgaon, to feed the needy. They were regular visitors of our cafe and Bal [the cafe owner] decided that they are doing a phenomenal job by giving time to the needy. We soon started serving them Panini, every Monday, but the children liked Indian food, so we started sourcing food from outside. Few members of our staff also go along with them to volunteer.”

We organise a bhandara (feast for all) in the lane behind our restaurant, once every month. We’ve also tied up with an NGO, Feeding India, which supplies food to the underprivileged. Normally they collect leftover food, but we also supply fresh food from the cafe— Vipul Gupta, restaurateur

Happiness equals full stomachs at Cafe Yell, situated in Delhi’s Defence Colony market. “We organise a bhandara (feast for all) in the lane behind our restaurant, once every month. We’ve also tied up with an NGO Feeding India, which supplies food to the underprivileged. Normally they collect leftover food, but we also supply them fresh food from the cafe,” says, Vipul Gupta, restaurant owner.

To support the social efforts of restaurants, volunteer-based organisations such as Robin Hood Army have joined them. Swasti Saraoughi, a volunteer from Gurgaon’s Robin Hood Army, informs that they are conducting drives over weekends for food waste management. “The whole idea is to mobilise food from a place where it’s going to be thrown away, and give it to people who would sleep in the night with an empty stomach. In Gurgaon, we have about 19 restaurants that give us food regularly including Kebab Express (Cyber Hub) that gives us about 100 Vada Pavs every Sunday. Other like Biryani Blues provides us six boxes of Biryani every Sunday. Other contributors include Chef Style (Galleria), Tossin Pizza (DLF Phase 4) and even online food portals such as Twiglys, among others. Some of them make fresh food for us to collect and distribute, while a few other provide us the surplus.”

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