Fighting hunger with hospitality

Collective Fare, a Brooklyn hospitality & food service company, knows ingredients alone don’t always make a meal. Through Collective Baskets, they help bring nutritious food, recipes, and nutrition resources to families at about 15 New York City public schools. When a family lacks a working kitchen, they also provide cooking equipment like air fryers and cooktops.

Gold Lion Community Cafe in Richmond, Virginia, serves vegetarian food with Indian flair and believes a meal should be as simple as walking through the door. Their Duke’s Tab program provides roughly 400 free meals a month: same counter, same kitchen, no paperwork. Guests pay it forward, and when donations fall short, the cafe covers the rest.

Grassrootz Books & Cafe in Phoenix, Arizona, feeds bodies and minds. Their community breakfasts serve an average of 50 families alongside a family reading initiative, and they’re expanding from monthly to weekly. Nothing goes to waste, either: the cafe donates its juice pulp to local community gardens to help grow more food.

Le Sud Mediterranean Kitchen, a French-Mediterranean restaurant in Chicago’s Roscoe Village, turns dinner out into a way to give back. Through their Table23 program, a portion of participating sales goes to local nonprofits like Common Pantry. Their kitchen team also prepares food donations for Common Pantry and Meals on Wheels.

Mehfil, an Indian restaurant in Asheville, North Carolina, stepped up its hunger relief after Hurricane Helene and hasn’t slowed down. They support Food Connection, donate meals to veterans, and serve free food at outreach events with Eblen Charities. Their annual Helene Week Community Lunch is open to all. In 2025, these efforts provided 1,000+ meals.

For 33 years, Mr. Everything Cafe has served healthy, cooked-to-order food to the Atlanta neighborhood around the Atlanta University Center. Twice a month, they feed about 120 young men in the Chance 2 Change mentoring program, a commitment going strong since 2018. Next up: a pay-it-forward program that lets guests buy a neighbor a meal.

Rosetta’s Kitchen, serving vegetarian and vegan soul food in Asheville, North Carolina, has lived by “Everybody Eats” since 2002. Their daily Everybody Eats Plate lets guests pay what they can or pay it forward. Same food, same tables, no questions asked. Through good times and hard ones, their crew keeps showing up with healthy food, served with joy.

Smack Dab, a queer-owned and managed brunch spot on Chicago’s North Side, believes everyone deserves scratch-made comfort food, regardless of ability to pay. For eight years, their monthly dinners have served over 20,000 free meals. Their daily Mutual Aid Meal feeds anyone who walks in, no questions asked, and they stock their local Love Fridge with dry good staples. Eat good. Do good.

Soul & Smoke, a BBQ spot in Evanston, Illinois, cooks at scale for its community. Their team prepares about 500 meals a week for nonprofit partners and keeps a free, 24/7 community fridge stocked outside their Evanston restaurant. Usable surplus becomes prepared meals instead of waste. Since 2020, they’ve provided more than 350,000 meals.

Todo Un Poco, an Elk Grove, California, restaurant serving Mexican and Italian food, puts surplus to work. With Abound Food Care and the California Food Access Alliance, they turn surplus into meals; more than 15,000 pounds recovered and more than 15,000 meals delivered to neighbors.

Tre’s Street Kitchen, a Baton Rouge, Louisiana food truck and caterer, puts its kitchen to work feeding neighbors. Every month, they provide donated and reduced-cost meals to local schools and area shelters. When hurricanes and winter storms cut off food access, their team shows up with hot meals.

TwoGuys Brewing in Wyoming, Michigan, cooks for its neighbors three times a week. Their Community Meal Program and community cooler offer scratch-made meals, fresh produce, and milk with no applications or questions. Since November 2025, they’ve provided 10,000+ free meals. Local middle schoolers pitch in too, learning knife skills and food safety while prepping meals.