Amid a nationwide baby formula shortage, one North Texas restaurant is doing what it can to help.
There's a new item available at Our Place Restaurant in Mansfield, but it doesn't appear on the menu and it's technically not for sale.
It's Gerber Good Start GentlePro baby formula, and the restaurant is giving it away to parents of babies, free of charge.
Manager Jessica Kennedy says she got the motivation after seeing what some of her friends are going through.
"To see that it's terrifying to them and the stress and the hurt on their faces of knowing that they can't feed their baby that night unless they go to whole milk, which is not the most nutritious thing for a child at six months," Kennedy said, "this was our motivation to be able to (say), 'Okay we can get this, we can help you guys in any way possible as we know.'"
Our Place Restaurant is obtaining the baby formula by purchasing it through its supplier.
"We actually went through our food distributor, U.S. Foods, and were able to order cases through them to have shipped here," Kennedy said. "That way we can just donate to any parent that's in need."
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The key word here is "donate."
"There is no reason for us to be able to profit off this," Kennedy said. "We just want to make sure all babies are fed and the stress is free from mom and dad."
Each time the restaurant receives a shipment of baby formula, it's usually gone in a manner of hours.
"The first time that we got our shipment, it was 16 cans. We had that all gone within a matter of two hours," Kennedy said. "Our second shipment, we actually got this morning, and it was 64 cans. And they have already all been spoken for by 12:00 this afternoon."
The restaurant is expecting another shipment Tuesday morning, and that might be the last one for a while.
Our Place, Mansfield - Facebook
"As of right now, this would be our last shipment until we can find another distributor that's able to have it on their shelves and be able to sell it to us," Kennedy said.
The restaurant is making the process as orderly as possible.
"They usually call first thing in the morning, and I have a list of names that I have been just collecting over the past few days," Kennedy said. "And I've just been sticking a name on each can that I come across, and it's a first-come-first-served basis."
To ensure that she can serve as many parents as possible, there is a strict limit of one can per customer - with one key exception.
"I had a couple come in today. They had twins, both brand new, and so we donated two to them, one for each baby," Kennedy said.
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