Want To Help The North Loop? Eat & Drink Here On Sept 28
What’s better than eating & drinking at The Loop? How about doing it on a day when your food and drink bill will help support your favorite neighborhood!
The Loop has generously offered to donate 11% of their proceeds from 11am-11pm on Thursday, September 28th to the North Loop Neighborhood Association so we can keep hosting the fun events you’ve come to expect, like the annual Food Truck Fair, Candy Grab and Halloween. It’s a new fund-raising initiative we’re calling Eleven It Up.
“North Loop is super important to us,” said Brian Lang, regional manager of Rocket Restaurant Group, owners of The Loop. “We’re named after this neighborhood so we ought to represent it right and take care of it as much as we can.”
The Loop is one of the OGs of the neighborhood, having been at 606 North Washington since 2006.
In the post-COVID era, customers at first seemed to be more focused on partying than dining, but now the kitchen is keeping busy like the bar.
“We love both sides of the business obviously,” said Lang, “but we also want to remind people that we’re a good restaurant here. We have some good food on our menu. The big thing we’re re-doing right now is we’re launching a whole new lunch menu. We’re doing pick and pairs with soups and salads and sandwiches.”
Fundraisers like Eleven It Up are becoming necessary because The North Loop Neighborhood Association is facing funding cutbacks from the city. We’re an all-volunteer organization, but it still takes thousands of dollars for things like permitting, security, equipment rental, insurance, etc. for our events, not to mention the costs of maintaining this website, our social media channels and other community initiatives.
NLNA president Diane Merrifield loves the Eleven It Up idea. “I’m excited about it,” she said. “We hope it’s a win-win, where both the neighborhood and the restaurant will benefit.”
Lang attended the NLNA’s annual meeting in January, where he said he was moved by the videos showing volunteers doing litter pickup, park clearing and other community improvement projects.
“Being in a neighborhood where the people care that much about their community really hit me,” he said. “I was like, man, we need to get more involved.”
The hope is that Eleven It Up will become a semi-regular event at other neighborhood businesses as a show of support to the neighborhood volunteers.
By Mike Binkley, North Loop volunteer