CT’s first ‘pay-what-you-can’ restaurant opens for dinner service

HARTFORD, CT (WFSB) – A new unique restaurant opened its doors for its first ever dinner service, and you might see some familiar faces.

Gather55 had a soft launch last week but now the doors are officially open.

There are some great guest chefs inside who are helping this great cause.

“We’re so divided and it’s really important to have places to have people gather with people who aren’t like them,” said Molly Reynolds, manager at Gather55.

The state’s first “pay what you can” restaurant has a daytime program with breakfast and lunch.

“If they are unable to pay, they can volunteer for half an hour, if they have 2 dollars, they can make a minimum contribution. And for some folks, if that’s not where they’re at right now, we’ll give them a voucher. We don’t want people walking away hungry,” Reynolds said.

Starting today, this new fine dining restaurant brings in amazing guest chefs and different menus each month, but not only that.

“20% of the seats are designated for folks who can’t pay for a meal because going back to the name Gather55, we really want this to be a gathering space,” said Reynolds.

“It’s cool as a chef because you can give back to so many places like this that do great things and help a lot of people. It’s our roll I think to embrace that and try to help as much as we can and that’s what we’re doing here,” said Tyler Anderson, volunteer chef.

Connecticut’s favorite chef Tyler Aderson and his amazing team will be in the kitchen throughout November with new guest chefs each month.

“We’re open Wednesdays through Saturdays. Reservations go from 5:30-8:30, is the last reservation,” said Reynolds.

Reservations can be made on the Gather55 website and if you want to join but might not be able to afford it, shoot them an email and let them know why you’d like to dine with them, and they’ll make a reservation for you.

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