Lunches for the Unemployed

Every other Monday since September, a Chinese restaurant in Manhattan has been offering free lunch to the unemployed.
Lunches for the Unemployed
FREE LUNCH: Ben Lee, owner of V33 Golden City, gets ready to offer free lunch on Wednesday. (Aloysio Santos/The Epoch Times)
12/30/2009
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/Lunches_for_the_unemployed_Print.jpg" alt="FREE LUNCH: Ben Lee, owner of V33 Golden City, gets ready to offer free lunch on Wednesday.  (Aloysio Santos/The Epoch Times)" title="FREE LUNCH: Ben Lee, owner of V33 Golden City, gets ready to offer free lunch on Wednesday.  (Aloysio Santos/The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1824369"/></a>
FREE LUNCH: Ben Lee, owner of V33 Golden City, gets ready to offer free lunch on Wednesday.  (Aloysio Santos/The Epoch Times)

NEW YORK—Every other Monday since September, a Chinese restaurant in Manhattan has been offering free lunch to the unemployed.

When Ben Lee learned that many of his regular customers stopped coming for lunch because they had lost their jobs, he was sad. He wanted to thank them for their loyalty, but didn’t know how. He then came up with an idea—offer free lunch to the unemployed. And maybe if they are in the neighborhood, they can now drop by.

Lee offers the deal to the first 50 customers who come in to V33 Golden City showing proof from the state unemployment office. So far, they have given out over 300 free lunches.

“My customers are normally workers, so I wanted to give back to the community,” said Lee.

But one thing he didn’t expect was that many of his working customers also started asking for a free lunch. He felt it difficult to say no during tough economic times.

Lee has yet to decide whether to continue offering free lunches, but said it is likely he will.

On Wednesday, on the occasion of the New Year, they extended the offer to up to 200 visitors, both employed and unemployed.

Vijay Kamra and Adeline Hu stopped by after finding out from a friend about the free lunch.

“We’ve been coming here for years—all the time. This is our favorite place,” said Kamra.

V33 Golden City, which features Americanized Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine is down the block from the Empire State Building at 14 E. 33rd St. On the Web site, the restaurant prides itself on its calm, friendly atmosphere and its healthy food. Lee also talks about his management philosophy. “I always treat my staff as friends,” he is quoted on the Web site.