$105 million disbursed to small restaurants feeding their communities
Immediately after the coronavirus pandemic hit, it was clear that the country was going to be facing challenges much larger than the visible public health crisis. Mandatory shutdowns across the country had massive economic impacts, affecting millions of people across sectors—including our beloved restaurant industry. With so many out of work having no way to feed their families, the pandemic quickly metastasized into concurrent health, economic, and humanitarian crises, each of which required an emergency response.
WCK launched our COVID relief effort in March by getting individually packaged meals to people most in need in New York, Oakland, Little Rock, and Los Angeles. We expanded quickly, and began partnering with small, local restaurants that were temporarily shuttered to prepare meals for their communities. The concept was simple—WCK could pay out-of-work restaurants to cook meals for their neighbors in need of fresh food. We started our Restaurants for the People program, initially committing to purchase 1 million meals, putting $10 million directly back into local economies.
Nearly six months later, World Central Kitchen has purchased over 10 million meals from small, independent restaurants, funneling more than $105 million back into the economy. The restaurant meals have been delivered to families and individuals most in need of food through this pandemic. Restaurants for the People has been implemented around the country—in over 400 cities across 35 states—including New York, Miami, Oakland, Houston, Atlanta, Seattle, and Chicago.
