A brewery in McKinney is donating a portion of sales to restaurants in McKinney. Tupps Brewery started selling the "Help Now!" 12-pack earlier this year to raise money for the Red Cross and McKinney Musician Relief Fund.
The brewery donates $4 from each 12-pack sold.
"There are certain people who will look at the pandemic and think, 'Woe is me.' There are other people who go, 'We can reinvent, we can do different things. We can turn this into a positive,'" says Tupps Brewery founder and President Keith Lewis.
Lewis says the Help Now! Campaign has raised $10,000.
"Everybody's gravitated to it," he says. "Consumers love it, restaurants love it, we love it. It's a win-win-win."
Lewis is now expanding the project to raise money for restaurants.
"You'll walk into a restaurant like E.J. Wills on the west side of McKinney. When you walk in the front door, there's a big stack of 'Help Now!' 12-pack Tupps beer. People will ask, 'What is it? How does this work?' Servers will say, 'When you can buy this, a portion of the proceeds go back to the restaurant,'" he says.
The Texas Restaurant Association says 32% of restaurants in the state have closed at least temporarily. Of those, 2% have closed permanently. The organization says restaurant and food service jobs account for about 10% of all employment in Texas. The association says restaurants generated $66 billion in sales tax revenue in 2018.
There are 300 restaurants and bars in McKinney.
"The key thing is it's a great way to support the restaurants who just dying right now," Lewis says.
The 12-packs include six cans of National Standard, a light American ale, and six cans of Juice Pack, a pale ale Lewis says is the brewery's most popular.
The campaign will continue through February 2021. "Help Now!" 12-packs are available at restaurants in McKinney and grocery stores across Texas. A complete list is available at https://tuppsbrewery.com/help/.
