OK, so yesterday we talked about what restaurants are doing to try to survive what might be an unprecedented downturn of business over an uncertain (but almost certainly lengthy) disruption of their business as patrons spend more time at home in efforts to maintain social distancing.

Sunday afternoon, Metro Director of Health Michael Caldwell issued a mandate that all area bars shut down until further notice. Caldwell also imposed restrictions on restaurant capacity, limited guest counts to 100 and limited bar service at restaurants to 50 percent of capacity with no standing allowed.

There’s no doubting that it’s gonna get worse before it gets better, but there are ways that we as consumers can at least help mitigate the danger to local restaurants.

As a city that depends on tourism to fill many of the seats in local restaurants, we’ve clearly overbuilt for the capacity needed just to feed our own population. That means our businesses are even more vulnerable than those in non-tourist destinations. While you may sigh a bit of relief about the NRA convention canceling, those 70,000 people were definitely going to do some serious eating and drinking while they were here.

My friend, the fabulous Kat Kinsman, interviewed some thoughtful chefs of what we can do to help restaurants for an episode of her Communal Table podcast for Food & Wine. She says: “Restaurants right now are not making money, and the people who work in them are not generally people who can afford to lose a shift, to lose tips, to lose an hour of work. They live paycheck to paycheck, and don’t have health insurance for the most part, and are really, really struggling right now.”

There are some things you can do to help restaurants ride out the storm, and many don’t cost much at all. First of all, and this should always go without saying, don’t ghost on reservations! It’s fine if plans change or you just can’t bring yourself to go out for a planned meal, but please, please call to let the restaurant know. Now more than ever, restaurants are operating on the razor’s edge when it comes to budgeting labor and food, so the unexpected loss of even a couple tables a night can be traumatic for a restaurateur.

If you do go, tip exorbitantly to the level you can. Treat every meal like it’s your last big meal before Christmas, and you’re filled up with the holiday spirit. The combination of the March 3 tornado and the arrival of COVID-19 have hit the service industry hard, and the virus has disrupted many of the charitable events meant to support the tornado recovery. Sometimes, you just need to pour your aid directly to people who need it, and restaurant workers definitely fit that bill.

The idea of buying gift cards now to use on some future date certainly will help restaurants with their current cash-flow crunch. It’s just important to realize that if the restaurant you purchased them from goes under, you’ll be stuck with that worthless card. There’s nothing wrong with this process if you go into it understanding that it might turn out to be a 100 percent charitable act instead of some sort of short-term cash advance to run a restaurant. Many places got into trouble by offering huge Groupon deals back in day, only to discover they couldn’t weather the cost of those discounted meals when they were eventually redeemed.

Carry-out and delivery service have started to pop up at many spots you wouldn’t expect. Again, this is an effort to maintain cash flow, keep employees working and offer a valuable service to local residents who can’t or don’t cook for themselves or who just need a little taste of something delicious in their life right about now. The traditional delivery services like GrubHub and DoorDash are seeing new participants every day, and many new options for carryout service and meal-prep offerings are emerging from unexpected spots like Henrietta Red through their The Party Line catering division, Nicky’s Coal Fired, Josephine and Liberty Common. Gone are the days when you could only order delivery from marginal Italian, Asian or pizza joints, so take advantage of the variety and enjoy it in the relative safety of your own home!

One of the chefs Kat interviewed for this episode was Chris Shepherd of Underbelly in Houston. He has quickly pivoted to offer more options to feed his fans. “If people don’t want to go out, they still have to eat. The food-delivery systems are great, but I wonder how long that lasts. We’re gonna have to be very fluid and willing to change. If you’re gonna maintain, you have to look at different options.”