When the PTA wants a piece of the pie

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For restaurants all over San Francisco, summer’s end means two things: Stone-fruit season is waning, and PTAs are back to “the parent hustle,” as chef Anthony Strong of Pasta Supply Co calls school fundraising — hitting up restaurants for everything from gift cards to food donations for auctions.

While donating goods or services to an underfunded public school — or even a well-funded private school — may seem like a small act of charity, the PTA solicitations roll in like a tsunami, and by mid-fall, popular restaurateurs often struggle to keep afloat with the number of requests.

Colleen Booth, managing partner at True Laurel and Lazy Bear, says she and her team field a handful of donation requests for gift cards of varying amounts every week. Amanda Michael, owner of Jane the Bakery, says she gets dozens, as does Pasta Supply Co. “Mostly, it’s just good folks trying to help their schools out,” Strong says. Although, if you catch him on a hard day — maybe in a dark corner — he’ll admit that, at times, it can feel a bit like a shakedown.

It’s not surprising that restaurants are the first stop for fundraising solicitations from parents and school administrators (not to mention just about every nonprofit looking for food to serve at galas). They are hyperlocal businesses that provide good times and good eats to the point that they feel less like private enterprises and more like a community’s shared space — certainly, compared to your local dentist’s office. (And how much is one willing to bid on a gift card for teeth cleaning?)

But, considering today’s declining profit margins, many restaurants could stand to ask for handouts themselves. “I think a lot of people don’t understand our finances,” says Booth, whose businesses also donate to nonprofits like Meals on Wheels and Sprouts Cooking Club. “They just see an expensive restaurant and assume we’ll be able to participate in every request, but that’s just not how the numbers work.” 

There’s also the admin time it takes for restaurateurs to respond to the deluge of requests. “We don’t want AI to get back to you,” says Strong. 

And finally, there’s the guilt: The hospitality industry is born of people-pleasers, the type who feel really terrible saying no. (In fact, everyone I spoke to for this piece was concerned that they’d sound as if they were whining — and begged me to make clear that they would give to everyone if they could.) Surely, a shrink would advise setting boundaries as a form of self-preservation. But how? 

Strong — who last week ran a special promotion offering any teacher with a school ID a buy-one-get-one-free pasta — thinks about this a lot. “We try to run an affordably priced, family-friendly place. We employ 60 people, and a good chunk of every dollar we make goes back into the local economy. At what point can we be happy with the contribution we’re already making to the community?”

“It’s hard, because you want to give to everybody,” agrees Michael. “We try to say yes as much as we can, especially to places we have a connection to. We make a list every week of who to give to and give ourselves a [donation] budget every month.” 

As funding woes deepen for public schools in particular, it’s likely the fundraising asks will only increase, all while restaurant owners are facing their own financial pickles. “It’s a struggle to make these decisions,” says Booth. “Of course we want to give back to our community. They’re the reason we’re here.”