Restaurants prepare Thanksgiving to-go meals as Minnesotans change holiday plans

Restaurants across Minnesota are now offering Thanksgiving dinner to-go as families scramble to rearrange holiday plans.

Gov. Tim Walz announced new statewide restrictions Wednesday, prohibiting social gatherings. The dial back means gatherings can only include members of your own household for the next four weeks, a time period which includes Thanksgiving.

"We have gotten a lot of last-minute phone calls asking for individual meals," said Sarah McDonough, assistant general manager at The LynHall, which has locations in Uptown Minneapolis and Edina.

The LynHall is one of many restaurants across Minnesota offering made-from-scratch Thanksgiving feasts in servings for one, two or four people.

McDonough said they sold out quickly and will be busy prepping 500 pre-order Thanksgiving bundles for pick-up next week.

"It includes turkey or a vegetarian option, sides like brussels sprouts that we’re known for here with bleu cheese and walnuts, anything from our mashed potatoes to wild rice, sweet potatoes, all those traditional ones, cranberry sauce," McDonough said.

Revival Restaurants in Minneapolis and St. Paul are also offering Thanksgiving meal kits to-go.

"This is a first. We’ve never done anything take-and-bake," Thomas Boemer, Revival’s owner and chef, said. "We’ve got our fried chicken, cornbread, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, our classic Revival mac and cheese, pies. You can get the sparkling wine six-packs of beer, whatever you need to make the holiday right. You can order individually, whatever items you want to build your own feast or you can get the whole package."

You can pre-order a Thanksgiving meal from Revival online.

Kowalski’s Markets said they are sold out of Thanksgiving meals, with more than 3,600 orders placed across the Twin Cities.

Restaurant leaders told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS these pre-orders are a much-needed boost in business, especially as new restrictions go into effect, limiting their operations to only take-out and delivery.

"There is such an emphasis on people supporting local and I think that is such a silver lining as well. We’re being chosen to be supported and there is more of that community feel in all of it," McDonough said.

Boemer added, "We need these things to be connected to the holiday, to be connected to our family and this is our way of being able to be a part of that."