Kitchens for Good

Changing Lives

Students and graduates in the Kitchens for Good program

Letter from Kitchens for Good

Dear Friends,

At Kitchens for Good, we are honing in on this truth: jobs are important, but careers are transformative. Careers allow our students to start again, leave their lives of poverty and incarceration behind, and move forward into a meaningful future.

With a focus on careers, this past year, we came to fully appreciate the difference between cooks and bakers. Whenever we reached the “Introduction to Baking” lessons in the culinary curriculum, several students in each class would sit up straighter, take more notes, and become inspired to come up with their own creations in the kitchen. These students embraced the precision, the scientific approach, and the rules baking unapologetically demands.

Building upon the success of our culinary apprenticeship program, we are pleased to share that Kitchens for Good will be launching San Diego’s first certified Baking Apprenticeship program in 2020. This is a true example of the essence of Kitchens for Good: student-centric, innovative, and always working to best prepare our students to get a job, keep a job, and build a career.

In the year ahead we will celebrate five years of operation, expand our programs into a third kitchen, run Luna Cafe at Moonlight Amphitheatre as a student-led enterprise, and graduate our first class of baking apprentices. Whether you dine, donate or volunteer with us, please join us in the celebration of these next milestones.

Our growth and ongoing innovation would not be possible without your support.

Thank you,
The Team at Kitchens for Good

The Process of Teaching

Knife skills and life skills.

Kitchens for Good breaks the cycles of food waste, poverty, and hunger through innovative programs in workforce training, healthy food production, and social enterprise.

Board of Directors

Emma Epes
CPA and Partner, EY — Board Chair
Julianne Markow
Chief Operation Officer, Voice of San Diego — Vice Chair + Board Treasurer
Karen Henken
Professor of Practice, University of San Diego — Board Secretary
Jess Yuen
Campaign Director, Rady Children's Hospital Foundation
Mike Irwin
Founder, Bottle Rocket Advisors
Sergio Alvarez
COO, Bloom Health
Shawn Parr
CEO and Guvner, Bulldog Drummond
Jeff Johnson
Executive Vice President, McKellar McGowan Real Estate Development
Bobby Ramirez
General Manager, Centerplate at the San Diego Convention Center
Chuck Samuelson
Founder, Kitchens for Good
Howard Solomon
Founder, 2.0 Solomon
Catherine Blair
Retired Educator

Project Launch

Kitchens for Good provides more than just job training. We provide hope for a better future. Through a certified culinary apprenticeship program, Kitchens for Good helps its students overcome histories of incarceration, homelessness, and foster-care by equipping them with renewed self-confidence and skills to become employed and self-sufficient in the culinary and hospitality industry.

This year, Kitchens for Good celebrated its first students completing the 18-month culinary apprenticeship certificate from the Department of Apprenticeship Standards. This certificate requires graduates to complete 2,460 hours of on-the-job training in the culinary and hospitality industry.

81%

Of grads received a raise or promotion

85%

Employed post graduation

112

Students enrolled

Only 4% of formerly incarcerated KFG grads go back to prison (compared to state average of 50%).

Impact by the Numbers

50,713 lbs

Of food rescued

124,868

Meals prepared total

40,597

Meals for at-risk youth

1,081

Volunteers engaged

$2,136,078

Revenue through social enterprise

Project Reclaim

Project Reclaim prevents thousands of pounds of food from going to waste by redistributing it in the form of scratch-cooked meals to food-insecure San Diegans. Surplus and cosmetically imperfect food is rescued weekly from farmers markets and wholesalers, then sorted, washed, and transformed into nutritious gourmet meals by culinary students and volunteers for hunger relief organizations.

Project Nourish

One in seven San Diegans struggle to put food on their table and must make difficult choices between paying for food, medicine, or rent. Through Project Nourish, culinary students, chefs, and volunteers prepared 124,868 nutritious meals to feed food-insecure children, seniors, and families across San Diego.

In fiscal year 18–19, Kitchens for Good deepened its commitment to fighting childhood hunger by expanding youth meals programs and serving more than 40,597 meals to youth in afterschool and summer meal programs at city libraries, Parks and Recreation Centers, and YMCAs.

Project Kitchen

Out of our kitchen come several profitable endeavors including catering and events services, contract meal services, and Luna Cafe at the Moonlight Amphitheatre in Vista. These enterprises provide essential on-the-job training and generate more than 50% of the organization's revenue.

Our Goal for Next Year

Launch a baking apprenticeship program
Rescue 120,000 lbs of food
Prepare 227,000 meals including 179,200 youth meals
Provide paid on-the-job training to 150 students
Engage 1,300 volunteers
Earn $2,689,000 in earned revenue
Operate Cafe Luna at Moonlight Amphitheatre as a student-run enterprise

$84,104

In wages paid to students

Our Partners

Produce Good and Local Farmers Markets
Specialty Produce
Imperfect Foods
San Diego Food Bank

Alumni Spotlights

In the News

Forbes

CBS 8

NBC San Diego

Looking Back at Our Great Events

View All Events

Financials

Revenue

Grants and Contributions$2,268,308 (50%)

Earned Revenue$2,136,078 (47%)

In-Kind$124,163 (3%)

Expenses

Programs$3,276,923 (83%)

Management and General$449,181 (11%)

Fundraising$224,500 (6%)

View Audited Financials & 990

Our Supporters

Everything we do is powered by our supporters, advocates, and partners. In 2018/19, that community grew larger, more passionate, and more generous than ever before.

Thank you for making our work possible.

View All Supporters