Restaurants

National Takeout Day: Take Your ICBC Rebate and Support Your Local Restaurant

It's free money (that was technically yours in the first place)—why not takeout?

By Neal McLennan /

If you’re like me you have a vague recollection of ICBC announcing some months back that thanks to the decrease in accidents and payout due to the pandemic, they’d be issuing rebate cheques to those who they compel to buy insurance from them. So, 99.8% of the car owning population in this province. If you’re like me you thought:

1. I’ll believe it when I see it; and

2. With ICBC there’s always a catch.

And there was, sort of. The rebates (or our own money, I might add) were supposed to come out Mid-March, but thanks to a massive data breach (now that’s the ICBC we know and love!) they were delayed. But today, lo and behold I got my mail and what I assumed was bad news turned out to be a rather healthy cheque from the people’s insurer. It turns out the average rebate is in the $190 range, which is none too shabby. It’s also the very definition of found money. You didn’t expect it and now it’s here burning a hole in your pocket. And if you know anything about the Bible and found money, you’ll know it’s a sin to save it. I think it’s Leviticus that says: Thou shalt blow found money, be it from the ponies, a bar bet or otherwise.

So here’s the idea: buy takeout. I know we and everybody else who cares about the restaurant industry have been signing this refrain since the latest closure floored their nascent recovery. And I also know not everyone is in a position to dig deep in times that are tough for a lot of wage earners. But if you happen to be the recipient of said found money, you gotta spend. That’s a fact. So why not takeout? We just published this list of spots that don’t have patios and that’s as good a place as any to start as they are totally reliant on takeout right now. And here are some spots who nailed takeout over the preceding year. But feel free to freestyle—it’s your found money. Just try to pick it up—we already know you have a car—and tip like your horse just came in at Hastings and maybe buy a bottle of wine that you’ve never seen before. 

There are few things better than getting rewarded for doing the right thing.

Neal McLennan

Neal McLennan

Neal McLennan is the wine and spirits editor for Vancouver and Western Living magazines, where he susses out the wonderful (and occasionally weird) options for imbibing across Western Canada.