The idea came from another famous island almost 5,000 miles away.
The pandemic had already closed down Hawaii and a local bank was searching for a unique way to assist suffering small businesses. The charitable arm of Central Pacific Bank decided that they’d help by footing half the bill for Hawaiians ordering take-out and delivery at participating restaurants. It was a success.
When the full impact of the pandemic hit Long Island earlier this spring, around the same time it was closing down Hawaii, Randi Sidgmore knew that she also needed to do something to help.
“She said, ‘I think small biz are going to get hammered,’” her brother and business partner Jeff Gelbwaks, told Long Island.com recently. “I felt the same way looking around Long Island. I thought we should try to help some of these downtown restaurants.”
Sidgmore committed money from her family foundation to the cause and the siblings began casting around for ideas when they heard about what the Hawaiian bank was doing. After interviewing the bank to see how their plan worked - and where it could use some improvement - they committed themselves to making the same thing happen on Long Island.
The result is Split The Bill NY, a non-profit organization that is helping restaurants by offering to pay half the bill for diners, one village at a time.
The program is simple. Split The Bill NY finds downtown areas that have been severely affected economically due to COVID-19 and picks a day where people can sign up to be reimbursed 50% up to a maximum of $30 on their total food bill. Restaurants in the town are asked to take part in the event and are signed up in advance.
So far, Split The Bill NY has held the event in four separate villages.
Farmingdale was the first, and it proved so popular that the group hit their committed amount for reimbursements of $10,000 by early afternoon.
“We didn’t even get to dinnertime yet,” said Gelbwaks.
Not wanting to leave anyone out, they doubled their commitment and extended the program another day for a total of $20,000 in payback to customers, encouraging people to patronize local restaurants.
Next they held one-day restaurant days in Valley Stream, Westbury and Hempstead.
Over four full days, Split The Bill NY has driven $82,000 in sales to restaurants with $38,000 in reimbursement to diners.
Best of all the program has no cost associated for either the restaurant or the customer. Essentially it’s free to sign up and get repaid, a win-win for both parties that encourages participation.
“We want it to be well attended,” Gelbwaks said.
The Sidgmore Foundation funds they generously committed to the cause will run out eventually so they are actively encouraging Long Island philanthropists, corporations, and other private foundations to chip in. (Sidgmore is committing anywhere from $60,000-$80,000 to the cause.) Gelbwaks explained that changes in IRS rulings since the pandemic encourage people to give to foundations to help local businesses.
The success of Split The Bill NY’s first four events proved their concept, according to Gelbwaks. The backend payment processing they build has worked well and they are ready to expand the program as needed.
The concept is simple:
- Pick a participating restaurant off the list on the website on the day of the event
- Buy a meal form that restaurant
- Take a pic of your receipt and submit through their online form before 11:59pm on the day of the event
- They also ask that you post a pic of your meal with hashtag #SplitTheBillNY and give a shoutout to the restaurant on social media
Gelbwaks said Eric Alexander, Director of Vision Long Island, was helpful in introducing the organization to officials in the villages they have brought the program to so far.
Split The Bill NY is currently looking for their next downtown area to hold the event as well as new donors. Their concept is innovative in that it doesn’t just provide cash to businesses but encourages a transaction.
“It gets business to the restaurants instead of just giving money,” he said.