WALTHAM, MA — Since the pandemic began, restaurants across the city have been scrambling to pivot and find ways to survive. Waltham's Craft Food Hall is no exception. This month, the people behind the food hall got an idea to help families looking for a safe reason to get out of the house, and encourage dinner out.
They turned their parking lot into a drive-in movie theater.
Guests can buy tickets online for $20 per car, drive in, order dinner or snacks online, a text will tell them when the food is ready, so they can head inside and pick up their food before heading back out to the car to watch a movie.
Mariel Capuzzi, who handles the restaurant's event planning said she was starting to see many of her favorite restaurants and businesses close or go into hibernation because of the pandemic and didn't want that to happen to Craft Food Hall, which opened in Waltham in 2019.
She was brainstorming with friends and other mothers in Lexington when the idea came to her to try a drive-in for the Lexington and Waltham food halls.
"We were just kind of like, OK, the activities are getting canceled, we're tired of having the kids at home, what do we do?," she said in an interview.
It just so happened the event planner with 20 years experience had planned drive-in theaters in the past.
"It's socially distant and safe. People are in the car, and the food hall was already set up for to-go, you could just have people go in and grab their food and eat in the car," she said.
If kids needed to blow off some steam and run around outside, there was room for that, too.
She pitched it to Gardy Desrouleaux, the managing partner at Craft Food Hall as something safe to help families through "COVID fatigue."
"Gardy is fantastic," she said. "He loved it."
Within a week they worked with city officials and also partnered with Boston Audio, which gave them a discount on the screen and became a sponsor.
From the beginning, Desrouleaux wanted to also support other businesses as much as possible. Businesses and local schools donated money to sponsor, and Craft thanked them by advertising them ahead of the movies they showed.
Capuzzi and Steven Lord, who is marketing coordinator for Craft Food Hall, collaborated on what movies the drive-ins would showcase, with some input from Capuzzi's two children from time to time. That strategy has worked so far, she said.
The Lexington drive-in started in late December with 40 tickets for sale each weekend. It's been selling out quickly, Capuzzi said. Waltham started this month, has a bigger parking lot can fit up to 50 cars and maintain safe distances, usually sells about 30 tickets.
"The Waltham community has been a constant support through this pandemic," Desouleaux said, thanking both the community and the businesses for their help in making the drive in happen.
Capuzzi echoed that sentiment.
"The local community has been great, they're extremely supportive," she said. "It's really nice to be able to have an event like this where the community wants to keep it going."
The restaurant is getting ready to start a drive-in trivia game on Thursdays soon to cater to the college crowd that might be looking for a way to get off campus safely. The plan is to charge $20 per car for a pizza and a chance to participate. They'll show episodes of The Office and then quiz participants after for a chance to win a $250 gift card.
Here's what's showing at the next few drive-in showings in Waltham, for $20 a car.
WALTHAM
Jan. 30
Feb. 5
Feb. 12
Previously: Craft Food Hall Now Open In Waltham
Jenna Fisher is a news reporter for Patch. Got a tip? She can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna). Have a something you'd like posted on the Patch? Here's how.
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