Kitchens for Good became a Live Well San Diego recognized partner on April 19, 2016. Kitchens for Good’s mission is to break the cycles of food waste, poverty and hunger through innovative programs in workforce training, healthy food production, and social enterprise. Through kitchen enterprises, Kitchens for Good provides strong social and financial returns to its programs, the community, and its employees by marrying a social mission with proven, business-driven strategies.
Kitchens for Good was founded in 2014, under the belief that kitchens can be social and economic engines for good in communities. Kitchens for Good works to develop community kitchens that provide culinary job training for unemployed populations, while simultaneously transforming local surplus produce that might otherwise go to waste into nutritious meals for the community. In addition to tackling issues of food waste, hunger, health, and unemployment, Kitchens for Good ensures its own sustainability by building a profitable food enterprise at the core of every kitchen. This model creates livable wage jobs for its culinary students and graduates, and generates significant profits to reinvest into social programs.
In September 2015, Kitchens for Good launched its first social enterprise kitchen at the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation in Southeast San Diego. In this 25,000 square foot kitchen and event space, Kitchens for Good operates a robust catering and events company. In addition, Kitchens for Good uses the space’s kitchen to prepare meals for its senior meal contracts and train 100 men and women a year in its culinary job training program.
Kitchens for Good is committed to continuing to advance Live Well San Diego by showing how kitchens can be drivers of social and economic good in communities. With meals that not only feed, but improve the health of vulnerable residents, jobs that employ men and women previously perceived as unemployable, and a purchasing power that will support Southern California’s farmers and communities, we will effectively and profitably close the broken loops of our food system.
