OP officials approve local restaurant relief program
Diners can earn $10 gift card by spending $100 at Orland Park restaurants
By Jon DePaolis
ORLAND PARK, Ill. — The Village of Orland Park wants you to dine locally, and it is willing to incentivize you to do so.
Board members voted 7-0 Monday, Nov. 2, to approve its Dine In Orland Park Incentive Rebate program. With the program, if a resident or nonresident shows the Village a receipt for $100 or more — excluding tip — at any Orland Park restaurant from Nov. 6 to Dec. 31, that person will be eligible to receive a $10 Visa gift card. Dining purchases can be dine-in, takeout, drive-thru or delivery.
To receive the gift card, the diner must submit the receipt and a completed program rebate form — which is available at www.shopop.org — to Village Hall (14700 Ravinia Ave. in Orland Park) by Jan. 31, 2021. The program limits one card per adult.
“This program was successful before,” Mayor Keith Pekau said during the discussion. “It did spur sales. It’s basically the same program, [but] we are just using it for restaurants given what’s happening currently.
“It’s clear that the restaurant industry has been singled out during this pandemic. They were the last industry to be opened back up — one month later than almost any other business — and have been recently singled out for closures of indoor dining. Outdoor seating at this time of year? Really? It makes me wonder if those making decisions actually live in Illinois during the winter, because it’s pretty cold to be eating outside. These decisions haven’t been based on science or data. Outbreak tracing indicates that approximately 1% of cases are traced back to restaurants.”
While the item was unanimously approved, a couple of trustees did express some concerns.
“When we purchase a Visa gift card, we’re using taxpayer dollars to purchase these cards through our funds and we have to pay a surcharge or fee for the gift cards,” Trustee Kathleen Fenton said. “Why aren’t we purchasing gift cards from restaurants in the Village of Orland Park to make sure that the $10 gift card goes back into the community instead of purchasing a gift card that we have to pay extra for plus that money then — that $10 — can just walk out and go into [another] community.”
Village Manager George Koczwara said that was an option, but what the Dine In program was doing was giving “ultimate flexibility” to the people participating in the program.
“The $10 Visa gift card in this situation can be used at any establishment in Orland Park,” Koczwara said. “If we did the mom and pop gift cards, we would be designating where they can only use it.”
Koczwara said that staff will encourage those who receive the gift cards to use them in Orland Park.
“I think it would be very difficult to administer a program where we would be picking one restaurant over another for their gift cards,” he said.
Pekau agreed, stating the Village would be picking “winners and losers” if they purchased gift cards from specific Village businesses.
Trustee James Dodge also brought up concerns about the program.
“We should all support our local businesses, but this project is going to potentially send taxpayer dollars directly out of Orland,” he said. “And that is not necessarily something I’m comfortable with. I would be comfortable if we wanted to increase the spend on marketing to bring attention to Orland Park businesses.”
Dodge said he would be willing to find more direct ways to help businesses in Orland Park using the money available in the Dine In program.
“I’m not against supporting our local businesses, especially given how hard-hit restaurants are,” Dodge said. “And I don’t think anybody in Orland Park wants us to just become another town full of only chains. So, there is an incentive here to try and support local businesses. I just think there are perhaps more direct ways to do this.”