St. Pete woman creates 'Bingo' game as a reminder that restaurants are open for business
‘Bingo’ game helps support Tampa Bay restaurants
A local campaign brings Bingo to Ba Area restaurants who have been staying home more than usual. The pandemic has closed most restaurants, but some remain open. A 'Bingo' game reminds people of those restaurants offering takeout, and if you complete a sheet, you can score cash or gift cards from those restaurants.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Restaurants have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, and are quickly trying to reinvent themselves.
A St. Petersburg woman who works in public relations had a creative idea for people to remember restaurants that are trying to stay open. Brooke Palmer of RSBP Events made a website of Bingo sheets that represents several neighborhoods in the region.
Basically, people can print it out. Each space is filled with a name of a restuarant that remains open and is offering carryout. If a person marks off every restaurant on a sheet, they can enter a drawing to win $250 in cash or a gift card from one of those restaurants.
You can find the Bingo boards by visiting: tampabaytakeoutbingo.com.
The cash prizes were sponsored by different independent businesses, Palmer explained to FOX 13.
"Last week, a friend of mine reached out to me and said he saw a very similar concept in Orlando," Palmer told FOX 13. "He was like, 'Hey, I think you can do this for Tampa. You have a lot of restaurants that are doing takeouts, this would be really fun."
She said Tampa Bay is lucky people wanted to partner and do something to support local businesses. However, she admits it was a challenge to figure out which restaurants were still open during the pandemic.
"If you're a restaurant owner…definitely make sure that your social media is updated," Palmer advised, "that your website is updated because how are people going to come and utilize you for takeout if they don’t even know if you're open?"
As of Friday morning, there were seven Bingo sheets representing seven neighborhoods. Those include, Seminole Heights and downtown St. Petersburg. Palmer said two more will be added by the end of the day.