Third-generation owners Mark and Brian Canlis personify reinvention and resilience. When they were forced to temporarily close their fine-dining restaurant, they transformed their business into a drive-in movie theater, roadside barbecue and a crab shack. They launched Canlis Community College, live streaming classes on food & wine, raising $60,000 for local hunger relief and job training.
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This B Corp. “uses the power of business to solve social and economic problems,” adopting a low-income apartment building and stocking its food pantry. Aiming to “help people help people,” Elephants introduced the “Good Neighbor Menu,” featuring well-priced meals that can be purchased, donated and delivered to shelters, healthcare workers and first responders.
This Mediterranean restaurant has grown to 12 locations since it was founded by the Abi-Najm family in 1979, just a few years after escaping the Civil War in Lebanon. Largely responsible for introducing “hommus” to the region, the family is very active in the community. They prepared 1,000 meals for Afghan refugees arriving to the city after a harrowing journey, and raised $150,000 for the Lebanese Red Cross and World Central Kitchen immediately following an explosion in Beirut in 2020.