As social distancing requirements start to ease in Los Angeles, Kevin Smith announced recently that his Mooby’s pop-up restaurant — featuring themed foods as well as exclusive View Askew merchandise — will be returning, with profits going to charities providing aid to those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and other worthy causes. After hooking up with a company that specializes in this kind of thing — according to Smith, it’s the same people behind themed pop-up restaurants for Saved By the Bell, GoodBurger, Breaking Bad, and Clueless — the Mooby’s had the misfortune of trying to launch a limited-time engagement amid the pandemic and lockdown. Now, it’s back.
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Smith, who had previously offered touchless delivery from Mooby’s, with Happy Meal-style boxed meals that included little nods like chocolate-covered pretzels (Mallrats) and Tater Tots (Jay & Silent Bob Reboot). It did well enough that Smith and his partners saw there was definitely an audience for it once people could go out and about again.
“They’re not letting people eat in the place, but there’s tables right outside, so you can eat outside on the patio, or you could take it home,” Smith told ComicBook.com. “The idea is, it’s a reservation system, so you can’t just walk up to it. You go to moobyspopup.com, and you make a reservation for your time, and then you come pick up your meal and you can roll around, take all the selfies you want, buy stuff and whatnot, and then either choose to eat your meal outside or take it home with you. So it’s modified from what the other restaurant experiences Derek has done before were like in terms of like you’re not going to be able to sit there for an hour and stuff, but you’re going to be able to come through and spend as much time as you want taking photos and whatnot, and then walking out with a meal.”
Mooby’s is a fictional fast-food chain that first appeared in Dogma, where it was explained that Mooby was the Mickey Mouse-style mascot of a global entertainment empire. Clerks II was actually set at a Mooby’s, with Dante and Randal having moved on to working there when the convenience store and video store from the first movieburned down. And Jay & Silent Bob Reboot featured a key scene that took place in a Mooby’s.
You can visit the pop-up’s website to order ahead (if you’re in the Los Angeles area), and make sure to wear a mask, as California governor Gavin Newsom today issued a decree mandating the wearing of them statewide in public places amid spiking coronavirus infection rates.
