File Photo.

The restaurant community is asking Californians to “dine out to help out” as much as they can this month to help the struggling industry.

The California Restaurant Foundation kicked off its month-long “The Grateful Table Dine Out” event. There’s not much to it beyond encouraging people to eat out at the state’s more than 90,000 restaurants to help an industry hit with severe setbacks over the past 18 months.

Participating restaurants throughout the state are also providing guests the opportunity to donate to the foundation’s Restaurant Cares, a nonprofit program that helps workers with living needs such as groceries, utilities, diapers, clothing, gas and rent. While no Central Valley restaurants were listed as participating, there are numerous eateries in other places that do.

This is the second time the foundation has held its Dine Out event. A release from the California Restaurant Foundation reported the event reached 1.3 million people through its marketing. Across 300 restaurants statewide, they collected $62,000 for restaurant workers.

The release cites data showing that 48% of restaurant owners think it will be another year before business will return to pre-pandemic levels.

A social media event also gives diners the opportunity to win a $200 gift card to the restaurant of their choice by following Restaurant Cares on Instagram and Twitter and tagging a restaurant in the comments and a friend they’d like to dine with.