When takeout doesn’t work out, what’s a restaurant to do? Revamp the menu, grab a few catering jobs?

At Viaggio Honolulu and Italica Bar & Cafe, the two restaurants inside the Velocity luxury car dealership in Kakaako, attempts to go takeout-only lasted just a couple of weeks. By April 10, all concerned realized they weren’t doing enough business to make it worthwhile.

General manager Gregg Fraser and chef Jeff Vigilla considered their options, then decided to keep making meals but forget about making money. Like many out-of-work restaurant staffers donating time to various nonprofit groups, they wanted to make use of their skills to serve those in need.

So they turned their attention to serving kupuna and keiki under a new campaign, Aloha Lives Here. “We decided to put all our efforts into this campaign,” Fraser said.

With the restaurant owner’s OK to use the Viaggio kitchen, they joined up with groups like Show Aloha Challenge, which contracts with restaurants to make meals for needy seniors. Vigilla said he’s constantly on the hunt for more groups he can cook for.

Working alone in the kitchen, the chef is cooking about 100 meals a day, seven days a week. He does the planning, prep work, cooking, and washes the pots and pans. Volunteers help pack the meals for delivery.

On Thursday, 60 BLT croissant sandwiches were sent out for lunch through Show Aloha Challenge, followed by 50 dinners of pesto chicken with pasta and marinara sauce, focaccia bread and a salad, going to Aloha Harvest.

Vigilla’s kitchen is orderly and calm, despite the huge pot of marinara bubbling on the stove, the oven beeping, the trays of bread waiting to be cut. He’s juggling not just today’s meals, but keeping track in his head of the beef to be readied for stew tomorrow, the pork shanks he’s already cooked for a ragu in another few days …

“It’s cooking from the pantry, cooking with what you’ve got, but understanding that you still gotta provide balance,” Vigilla said.

He’s using up Viaggio’s supplies, juggling donated foods and going shopping himself. Nothing a competent chef couldn’t do, he said, and in fact he seems to enjoy the challenge. “Cooks do what you need to do. You cook.”

Aloha Lives Here’s other project is for the opposite end of the age spectrum, children.

Working with Keiki 2 Keiki, a consignment shop, Fraser has been assembling care packages of diapers, formula and baby wipes. He hopes to distribute 40 to 100 packages a day from a pickup point outside the Italica cafe, right along Ward Avenue.

Funding for their projects comes through a stipend from Show Aloha Challenge, donations (big supporters have been Y. Hata & Co., and the distributors Triple F and Hansen) and sale of custom “Hawaii Strong” T-shirts.

Fraser plans to purchase many items, rather than relying donated goods. “The distributors are down, the distributors need that extra little bump, too.”

Even if the restaurant reopens, Fraser said, he plans to continue the keiki program “as long as there’s a need.”

To donate to Aloha Lives Here or to apply for help, call or text Gregg Fraser, 782-8462. To buy a $20 “Hawaii Strong” shirt, go to alohaliveshere.net. All proceeds go to the charity.