CHUBBUCK — The Everest Kitchen Indian restaurant will once again this year provide free meals to the public at the restaurant, which is located inside the Travelodge at 133 Burnside Ave. Indian cuisine will be served from noon to 2 p.m. Wednesday. 

Manager Rahul Sepla says people look forward to the event, and he and Travelodge General Manager Mohan Sepla, who is also Rahul's father, wanted to make sure it was a good time for people coming to the event.

“We don't care about the cost,” Rahul said. “As long as people are happy, (we're) happy.”

They just want to make sure people have a happy holiday, he said.

“That's the whole point,” Rahul said.

Everyone will have a fun time and get to enjoy Thanksgiving.

“We want to make sure everybody has a holiday,” he said.

They started the preparations for the food giveaway on Monday, but they will be doing some things a little differently this year. They plan to prepackage the food this time around.

“We want to ensure that all the precautions are taken,” Rahul said. "So we do prepackaging in the back.”

That compares to last year when servers would scoop the food for participants.

But this year people will just come in the main door of the Travelodge while wearing masks and keeping a social distance. Then they will pick up a package of food and walk out the door on the other end of the building to help ensure safety.

The event was popular last year judging from comments online, according to Mohan Sepla.

“There were happy comments on Facebook,” he said.

Mohan Sepla says people love it and they're just waiting for it every year, so he plans to continue offering the free meals in the future, too.

“I don't want to stop it,” he said. “As long as we're here we'll be serving food."