This is: The Standard

In 2015, New York brothers Chris and Doug Blauvelt came to Southwest Florida and founded The Standard restaurant in downtown Fort Myers. In 2017, after irma, they decided to reinvent themselves and they teamed up with Alyssa Lemay to host their first Drag Queen Karaoke Brunch. Not long after that, The Standard and Alyssa started hosting Drag Queen Bingo. They first started with just eight to nine people, now their crowds gather 200 people every Thursday night. All of this to benefit local causes and organizations, last year alone, they raised over $50,000 for local charities.

Alyssa keeps busy by doing different types of events, around seven to ten events a week, all over Southwest Florida. Many of them being charity events.

How is COVID-19 affecting The Standard and what services are they offering?

They are barely covering their expenses and they are staying open for their loyal customers. The Standard is offering deliveries and curbside pickup, you can call them or place an order online. Also, if you’re missing their Drag Queen Bingo, you can actually play it online on Thursdays. You can buy the bingo cards at the restaurant and stream the game from Alyssa’s Facebook page.

What is the latest fundraiser they are running?

This one is to help the service industry, it’s called the Lee County Restaurant Workers Relief Fund. At the end of the month, all the money collected will be used to help alleviate some of the burden caused by the closures on restaurant workers. They are raising money through their bingo games and you can also donate through their GoFundMe page.

You can listen to the complete interview below.