Bruce Hink, the owner of Mia Za’s in Campustown, has been in town for just about 50 years, and has worked in a lot of capacity inside the service industry here, so he knows how and when to step up to help when it’s time. It’s been a hard moment for everyone, but especially businesses in Campustown where foot traffic from students is the name of the game, and where construction projects have dominated the landscape for what seems like forever.
Still though, he came up with a way to serve families on the front lines in affordable and yummy ways, and has taken to angling a charitable element to it as well. Mia Za’s is now offering 17 different “meal kits” which are designed to serve 4-6 people in a timely fashion, but while not sacrificing the flavor and freshness of the food.
He got the idea while talking to a family member in Washington state who is working on the front lines.
He told us:
After hearing the news of the initial breakout of the virus in Kirkland and her hospital being at the center of the storm, so to speak, my thoughts turned to what [she] must be going through being on the front line all day then going home to take care of her family. One of those things she she needed to do was preparing wholesome meals but also knowing it would be hard to have to go to the grocery store to put together a home cooked meal. She was too far away to help directly so with her in my mind I created meal kits with our fresh made pastas and flat bread pizza crust, our in house sauces and prepped ingredients with a instruction sheet. The kit had everything ready to go so a meal could be made fresh in 8-10 minutes whenever a family wanted to eat. Then I reached out to Stevie Jay for a suggestion of who I could help and he put me in contact with Justin at Carle Arrow Ambulance and we donated 25 pasta and 25 pizza meal kits. By all indications they were a success so I wanted to figure out a way to continue to help. Afterwards, my staff put together 17 different kits based on our “Classic” menu items with instructions that will provide 4-6 servings for $18-$24. Then we have set up two companies that can deliver (ChowBus and DoorDash) and have been able to setup a online order curbside pickup system. So now with every five kits sold we will be able to donate a kit to first responders and our neighbors in need. It will also help me ensure my staff get to work. It has been incredibly slow with the student gone and the construction at Wright and Green which is where we are at.
This is the sort of community spirit I can get behind, and Mia Za’s serves up a pretty great bowl of pasta, as our writer Carly Prais pointed out a couple years back. Nice work, Bruce!