Capital One Joins Forces with The Power of 10

From birthdays to anniversaries to team outings and nonprofit fundraisers, local restaurants are at the heart of many neighborhoods, helping communities celebrate momentous milestones with great food. 

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, restaurant workers began to suffer unexpected challenges, including a record-breaking unemployment surge. Chef Erik Bruner-Yang, one of D.C.’s most prominent tastemakers, was determined to help by putting together an ambitious crowdfunding system that supports independently-owned restaurants, bringing their talented staffs back to work and feeding communities in need at the same time. 

The Power of 10 operates on simple math. For $10,000 a week, a restaurant can employ 10 full-time staff and make 1,000 well-balanced meals to help feed frontline healthcare workers, older adults, and other community groups in need. Donations start at $10 — the advertised cost of food and labor to cover one meal — and go up in multiples of 10. 

“Food is all about connection,” said Bruner-Yang. “The Power of 10 is so special because it has mobilized resilient restaurateurs, reemployed their staffs, supported local vendors and served approximately 20,000 meals to date – connecting all of these people groups back to the very thing they love.” 

A Collective Effort to Make our Communities Stronger

At Capital One, we’re focused on supporting our customers, communities and partners through this difficult time. The dining industry is one that is important to us. We know our customers are passionate about making memories while dining with family and friends, and we wanted to find a way to help address their rapidly changing needs. That’s why we’ve teamed up with Chef Erik Bruner-Yang to help expand The Power of 10 to eight total cities, including Washington D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Baltimore, Charlotte, and Richmond. 

“The Power of 10 launched locally in D.C. with the generosity of many individuals and has expanded nationwide thanks to Capital One, who stepped up in such a meaningful way to empower independent restaurants. It’s all so humbling,” said Bruner-Yang. “Until we can gather in our favorite neighborhood restaurants again, we will continue coming together to support them by providing jobs for their employees and meals for their neighbors.”

Over the last several years, we have invested heavily in our dining industry partners and developed products and experiences that support this community. We’ve made it easier for our customers to support their favorite restaurants by allowing Venture customers, including those with Visa® card benefits to redeem miles for eligible restaurant delivery and takeout purchases now through June 30, 2020. 

“Capital One is proud to support The Power of 10, an extraordinary initiative started in our hometown, and to help expand this innovative program to eight cities across the country,” said Andy Navarrete, Head of External Affairs, Capital One Financial. “Restaurants play a vital role in unifying the communities we serve, and we were eager to do our part to help in this urgent and unprecedented time of need. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with Erik and The Power of 10 to support restaurants, bring restaurant workers back to work, and provide food access to those on the frontlines of our country's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.”  

Partnering with Get Shift Done

This innovative model of reemploying workers to support the community has seemed to gain traction. In addition to partnering with The Power of 10, Capital One is also supporting Get Shift Done, an organization that is paying and connecting hospitality workers adversely impacted by COVID-19 with nonprofits in need of critical workers to pack food boxes and provide hunger relief to communities across the country. 

The organization launched in Dallas with an innovative partnership with the North Texas Food Bank and has rapidly expanded to nonprofit partners in Washington D.C., El Paso, Houston, Little Rock and New Orleans with additional cities launching in the coming weeks. In Dallas, the program is able to serve 1 million meals weekly, while in New Orleans, volunteers have been working around the clock to feed children, seniors, and homebound individuals across 23 parishes. Get Shift Done will allow even more individuals to be served as demand for meals surges during this critical time while providing sustainable wages to thousands of workers in each community.  

“The need for volunteers and the need for food and resources are spiking simultaneously during the crisis," said Anurag Jain, Chairman of the Board of North Texas Food Bank. "When you apply a large displaced workforce in the food and beverage and hospitality industries, an innovative solution emerges that provides an answer to many needs."

“We are proud to support Get Shift Done and the Power of 10’s missions of providing jobs, supporting groups deeply impacted by this situation –restaurants and nonprofits–  and getting food to frontline workers and the community,” said Navarrete. “We will continue to marshal our resources, funds and reach during these uncertain times to help in the collective recovery.”