The interior of Mot Hai Ba in East Dallas.

Two East Dallas restaurants are reaping the benefits of a plan that funds locally owned eateries, Eater Dallas reports.

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Launched in March by Washington, D.C.-based chef Erik Bruner-Yang, The Power of 10 program set out to donate $10,000 per week to each selected restaurant. With the money, eateries can reopen with up to 10 full-time workers and make at least 1,000 meals for frontline workers and areas in need.

Bruner-Yang partnered with Indie Chefs Week to select restaurants to help. Two of the eateries just so happen to be neighborhood staples: Vietnamese joint Mot Hai Ba and farm-to-table favorite Petra and the Beast.

In an interview with Eater Dallas, Peja Krstic, chef at Mot Hai Ba, said that with the Power of 10 money, he has rehired staff whom he had to lay off during training for his forthcoming second location in Victory Park.

“We started and ended our training on March 16, “ he told Eater Dallas. “This gave us an opportunity to hire all that staff back who were supposed to be working at the new restaurant.”

Krstic said that in just one day of work with help from Power of 10, his staff made more than 330 meals for the United States Bartenders Guild, local organizations that feed food-insecure individuals and people who have lost their jobs in the midst of the pandemic.

Bruner-Yang met his goal, and the initiative has received more than $750,000 in funding since March. The program has allowed 30 restaurants to donate over 24,000 meals.