The local chapter of Yelp is hoping to bring more business to Charlotte restaurants with a new campaign for meal kits. Restaurants around town are offering family-style or coursed meals, as well as do-it-yourself kits of their signature dishes. Yelp Charlotte Senior Community Director Nikki Wolfe says Yelp staffers across the country were brainstorming various ideas to help support restaurants, and the idea of selling kits was one of them. 

“I just thought it really made sense with what’s currently happening, with phase two restrictions and all that,” Wolfe says. “So I started sending out pitches to see if anybody was even interested, because maybe it wasn’t a great idea — but businesses really liked it.”

The kits, which so far are available from more than a dozen establishments, range from burgers and picnic baskets to cocktail kits. Uptown restaurant Angeline’s, for example, is selling a basket with charcuterie, cheese, bread, and accoutrements, and wine can be added on. Fin & Fino has cocktail, lobster and shrimp roll, and seafood boil kits. Legion Brewing’s kit includes all of the ingredients and instructions needed to make the South Park location’s pimento bacon burgers. Other kits include gnocchi, shrimp and grits, mimosas, and more. Ordering takes place directly from the restaurants, while Yelp helps to promote the kits on Yelp and social media. It’s free for restaurants to take part. 

“We connect people with great local businesses — that’s what we’ve always done, and that’s what we’ll always do,” Wolfe says. “I’m trying to do my job here on the ground as community manager to help really, really drive this.”

Yelp will also host several virtual events as part of the kit campaign, including a pizza-making event on Monday, Aug. 24 with Pizza Peel owner Will Bigham.

The most popular offering so far is a meal deal from Something Classic — $35 for salad, entrées, and dessert for four, with free delivery. The kits will be available through early October, and more restaurants will be added. 

“I just love the creativity,” Wolfe says. “I know that we’ve all had to pivot, whether you’re a restaurant or whether you’re Kristen Wile or if you’re me — everybody, we’ve all had to pivot. And the creativity that some of these guys have shown the past few months is just mind-blowing.”

See all of the Yelp Kits available for purchase here. —Kristen Wile

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