Rohnert Park’s beloved Sally Tomatoes at Somo Village will now be offering a convenient and affordable way for Sonoma County residents to have delicious meals delivered right to their door. Sally Tomatoes has been a cherished member of the Rohnert Park community for the past 15 years through its catering and event company efforts centered in Somo Village. Similar to a number of current American restaurant businesses, Sally Tomatoes, along with Heirloom Cafe and other venues at Somo Village, are struggling to stay afloat with the loss of business due to the novel Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. 

Sally Tomatoes is a locally established catering business known for hosting large events such as conferences, reunions, weddings, funerals and more. However, “All of our events got cancelled mainly because most businesses could not afford to throw large events anymore such as company parties,” said Stephanie Summers, a dedicated employee of Sally Tomatoes.  

Fortunately, Sally Tomatoes has not closed its doors completely, as it has instead chosen to offer the residents of Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, Cotati, Penngrove and Petaluma a family-style meal delivery service. The family-style meal includes a house salad with ranch dressing, homemade meatloaf with gravy, mashed potatoes with gravy and butter peas and carrots all for only $10.99 per person with a four-person group minimum per order. 

The frequented, local mainstay is even offering beer and wine to be delivered with the meal for people over the age of 21. 

Sally Tomatoes offers a variety of catering-based services, although, due to the U.S. and California government’s fear of COVID-19 spreading, thousands of businesses have had to close their doors, leading to a major loss in revenue, temporary job lay-offs and, in more dire situations, permanent layoffs for businesses to remain closed forever.

COVID-19 has left many businesses small and large to lessen their hours and has forced  thousands of businesses across the country to close while leaving millions of Americans without a job. Yet, for Sally Tomatoes, this  delivery service was formed to offer a safe way for families and eldery adults throughout Sonoma County to be able to receive delicious premade meals for a low-cost by giving the people most at risk to have access to fresh meals, all without leaving their home. 

Many businesses in town are not as lucky, for example, many residents and Sonoma State University students alike who work at local restaurants have been laid off with no answer as to when they will be able to return to work.

“I work at an Asian eatery located at the Graton Casino, which, before the COVID-19 outbreak, had brought lots of people from all over to gamble and eat. Although, due to the Coronavirus, Graton has had to close its doors, leaving the people that work there unemployed and struggling to file for unemployment,” said third-year student, Derik Barron.

While Sally Tomatoes remains well attentive to its fellow members of the community, like Barron, its hosting of various concerts, comedy shows and community-favorite events may be gone for good if Sally Tomatoes has to close its doors permanently. But, to relieve the looming, unfortunate economic impact of COVID-19 in the here-and-now, residents of Rohnert Park and the Sonoma County community are still equipped with a prime opportunity: purchasing affordable take-out and to-go orders from Sally Tomatoes and small businesses alike directly aids in keeping them afloat, too, during the unforeseen time.