food Golden Dinosaurs Vegan Deli Feeds 400 in 4.5 Hours By Laura Mulrooney
LAURA MULROONEY
Folks lined the block Monday, July 14 at Golden Dinosaurs Vegan Deli for free Beyond Meat burgers.
Starting promptly at noon on Monday, July 14 Golden Dinosaurs Vegan Deli had a line of masked patrons waiting outside their door, down the sidewalk and around the corner. Owner and operator Audrey Dingeman and her crew at GDVD gave away 400 Beyond Meat burger bags sponsored by Grow Financial. Earlier in the day, Dingeman was confident that she’d have enough burger bags to last the whole day, from 12 to 7 p.m. GDVD unexpectedly ran out at 4:30 p.m. When asked if she was shocked by how fast the 400 meals went Dingeman said “definitely.” “We thought it would take all day to sell out, if not an additional day,” she responded. “It was a great day and great collaboration.” Grow Financial recently started a program to support small businesses in the Tampa Bay area. “To lend a hand to our community, we’re treating Tampa Bay residents to the best our community has to offer,” Grow Financial explains on its website.
theGabber.com | July 16 - July 22, 2020
All residents need to do is check out Grow Financial’s Grow On Us campaign site to find the next participating businesses, show up and Grow takes care of the bill. How do you nominate a business for this opportunity? Well, Dingeman isn’t exactly sure. “We were nominated by someone within Grow Financial. (We think so anyway – they haven’t totally fessed up, so we can’t say 100%).” Grow Financial isn’t just supporting restaurants either. They’ve given away plants, homegoods and even beer. For those who were concerned about GDVD after their temporary closure June 24, Dingeman assures that they’re doing just fine. “GDVD is fairing well! Our commitment to the safety of our community, customers and staff has really set us apart during the pandemic and has made our following stronger. We wouldn’t be here without the amazing support of our dedicated customers and our hardworking staff, and we are incredibly thankful for every single one of them,” Dingeman wrote in an email to Gabber staff.
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