Restaurants offer 'brunch in bed,' take-home meals for Mother's Day

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Mother's Day is typically a busy day for the restaurant industry. But this year, there won't be sit-down brunches, and many restaurants are switching to pick-up options.

The Lowlands Group, a local restaurant group, is offering a special "brunch in bed" that can be picked up from Café Benelux. They also have drink packages: the ‘Mom’osa and Benelux Bloody Mary. Pre-order ends Friday evening, and the items can be picked up Sunday between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.

"I lost my mom last year, so this year it's felt really good to just be able to do something really special and nice in the community," said CEO Eric Wagner.

At the Three Brothers Restaurant in Bayview, mother-daughter duo Patricia and Milunka Radicevic are working side-by-side as they prepare for the holiday.

"We put together a menu of specials that are things that my grandmother made that we love, things that my mother has made for us that we love and things that my mother likes and are sort of more delicate and special in terms of what people traditionally think of Serbian food," Milunka Radicevic said.

They're not only offering Mother's Day specials like Bleu Cheese Torta with Rosehip Jam, but also offering their full menu during their regular hours. The specials can be picked up Saturday afternoon to reheat on Mother's Day or picked up warm on Sunday.

"We love all of those moms out there and we know how hard it is for everyone," said Patricia Radicevic.

"We certainly aren't doing the business we were. Yet, we're still blessed to have business. We're still blessed to be doing the curbside. We're still blessed to be working together as mother-daughter," Milunka Radicevic said.

Carl's Catering in Greendale is busy cooking up classic meals that families can pick up and reheat. The meals, which include beef tenderloin tips with noodles, stuffed chicken breast and baked ham with a brown sugar glaze, have to be ordered in advance and can be picked up Saturday.

"It's quite a bit different than it's been in the past. Before, we used to have buffets where we'd serve maybe 600 or 650 people," said owner Thomas Schmitz. "It's been really difficult with everything being completely shutdown, but we do a Friday fish fry, which we've been very blessed to have."

As many restaurant owners are just trying to stay afloat, they say they're trying to focus on what Mother's Day is really about.

"Everybody should appreciate their mothers and try and give them a break, and in this time, it's very difficult to do. So hopefully we can meet the need for those people," Schmitz said.