Waterloo pair receives provincial award for delivering meals to porches during the pandemic

Award for business delivering meals From CTV Kitchener: A local business received a provincial award for helping deliver meals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

KITCHENER — A Waterloo pair received a Small Business, Big Hearts award from the province on Wednesday.

Travis and Jennifer Restoule were recognized for helping local restaurants hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic by delivering meals to people's porches.

Their initiative began with their friend Elvis at Ellison's Bistro, who was struggling financially. Each week, they picked a different local restaurant to help.

The pair had neighbours pitch in, delving up to 400 meals each week and helping keep businesses like Ellison's Bistro alive.

"What really sets them apart is how many people they were able to involve over a number of restaurants from across the city," said Prabmeet Sarkaria, associate minister of small business and red tape reduction. "The level at which they were able to scale in such a short period of time and the impact they were able to make in their local community was very significant."

The award recognizes small businesses in Ontario that have stepped up and supported their communities while adapting to challenges themselves.