First it was a movement to save Oak Park’s restaurants during COVID-19. Then it was founding an organization dedicated to improving the wider restaurant community. Now Oak Park Trustee Ravi Parakkat’s next feat is publishing a book to spread the word about Takeout 25’s local impact to the wider world.
On April 30, his self-published book “The Takeout 25 Effect” hit the stands – virtual and local.
Subtitled “mobilizing community for positive change,” the book traces a narrative of how the movement began and succeeded.
Parakkat said he believes that giving readers a behind-the-scenes look will “…create a recipe for application of this idea that worked well in this community.”
“I felt like it could be applied in the context of other communities and to solve not just this problem but other problems,” he said.
The concept of the original Takeout 25 was simple math at time when restaurants and local businesses were closing around the state. If households in Oak Park spent $25 per week at local restaurants, that would push more than a million dollars per month into the local food economy. The idea caught on. Through a Facebook page, residents and volunteers in the Takeout 25 community banded together to save local restaurants. Although it is impossible to know to which degree Takeout 25 was the reason, the fact is that few local eateries closed in Oak Park during COVID-19. The group soon spread the $25 challenge into neighboring communities, as well.
As the online community grew, the Takeout 25 team knew that there would be questions about who was behind it and skepticism about the goals.
“Right from inception was building that trust and credibility with the community to say, yes, I’ll be transparent about any funds that come here,” Parakkaat said. “I will spend it this way and you know. It’s open books. And then when the nonprofit came on board, then it becomes transparent automatically.”
The success of that Facebook community inspired him and supporters to open a non-profit organization. Its stated goal is to enable sustainable local food systems and supply chains through a community-driven approach. One push is to help local restaurants compost their waste. Daley Bagel and The Happy Apple Pie Shop are early adopters.
The reason for writing the book is Parakkat’s belief that good ideas can go farther with a map to follow.
“I think there are more issues that are solvable in the local context. What are the ingredients to make that work? How do you mobilize the community to support that, and how do you harness its power to really make it effective?”
Throughout the book, Parakkat explains how anyone can start a movement with no capital investment, using tools freely available to most people on the planet.
Back in 2020, as the Facebook group grew, a team of volunteers worked to keep comments positive. It eventually became a rule for the group. And it’s something that Parakkat said he believes is key to replicating the outcomes. His hope for the book is that laying out the best practices that they discovered will help similar groups skip some of the growing pains that Oak Park’s group experienced.
Putting the guardrails on is key, he said, “to say this is how you think about this problem, and this is how you solve for this problem within these rules and within these guidelines so that everybody feels included and everybody can come and participate and they’re able to prove the fact that you be as successful as a collective.”
Takeout 25 later expanded to building community among local restaurant owners and managers. This facet of the organization worked to break down barriers to collaboration and communication.
A Facebook group for restaurants only created community when there had only been competition before. One restaurant needed extra refrigerator space for a short time, another was able to use excess paper plates. The group permitted them to find help.
The growth in this restaurant-facing group helped Oak Park become the first Green Dining Hub in Illinois. Along with the Illinois Green Business Association, Takeout 25 is working to build the state’s first sustainable restaurant eco-system.
Parakkat said he also plans to work with larger organizations, such as the Illinois Restaurant Association and the National Restaurant Association, to get the word out about the group’s efforts and the book. Endorsements for the book have ranged from local restaurateurs, non-profit leaders, and even an Olympic athlete.
The book is available now at local retailers and on many online platforms. A book launch event will be held May 13 at 7 p.m. in the Oak Park Public Library in the Veteran’s Room. RSVPs are encouraged through the library’s website or linked from takeout25.org.
While Ravi Parakkat used his personal funds to pay for the publication of the book, he has pledged a percent of any profit to be donated to the Takeout 25 organization.
The book is a case study, he said, “so that it can go beyond our borders and boundaries. The goal is definitely to get the message out into the world.”
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The Takeout 25 Effect
By Ravi Parakkat
Available in print, e-book, and audiobook
Locally: thepilebookstore.com
Online: bookshop.org, Amazon, Barnes & Noble
