Rethink Food Initiatives

 

At the core of our work is inventiveness and vulnerability. We are relentlessly curious about solving problems related to our food system and in that spirit, pilot initiatives with the goal of finding practical solutions that can create lasting change.

 

Current Initiatives

 

  • Launched March 2022

    Our commissary kitchen is always looking at ways to create new, practical models that maximize the use and shelf life of the food we receive.

    This spring our kitchen team started converting thousands of pounds of donated excess food into jams, sauces, soups, and purees. These are nourishing, chef-quality products that community organizations can order for free online to stock their pantries or utilize in their meal preparation—saving money and time in their production schedule.

    Our commissary team is now open to the public—welcoming students, volunteers, and visitors—to see firsthand how our kitchen works and how we convert thousands of pounds of excess/donated food items that would otherwise go to waste into 8,500 weekly meals for the community.

    Visit our events page to book a personalized tour and tasting. Every ticket purchase will provide 20 nutritious meals for our communities facing food insecurity

  • Education is critical to increasing awareness and action of how we can all make an impact in building a more sustainable and equitable food system

    This spring, we started to provide classroom educational content on reducing food waste—including a leftovers cookbook, video cooking demos, food storage tips, and more—to serve hundreds of NYC students in the Upper East Side, Lower East Side, and Queens.

  • Launched May 2022

    Rethink Food is piloting an initial ten-week program with several bodegas through the Yemeni-American Merchants Association (YAMA) to leverage these vital neighborhood businesses as a new and direct meal access point for the local community.

    Select vetted YAMA member merchants at bodegas in Harlem, and the Bronx are making wholesome, culturally celebrated meals available for free each week for their neighbors. In turn, Rethink Food and YAMA will support these merchants with small grants covering the cost of the meals and logistical support.

 
 
 
 
 
Rethink Food sign
 
 

Past Initiatives

  • Concept: We opened the Rethink Cafe in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, at the height of the pandemic in March 2020 when food insecurity was at an all-time high. As one of New York City’s first pay-what-you-can community cafés, it invited everyone to enjoy a nutritious meal for a suggested donation of $5. We served daily-changing meals for both lunch & dinner utilizing excess food and prepared by professional chefs. We also operated a fully-stocked market pantry and offered grab-and-go items.

    Impact: The Rethink Cafe proudly served over 15,000 meals and over 9,000 pantry and to-go items to the local community and their families.

    Learnings: Over 18 months, we were able to demonstrate the potential for direct, customer-facing efforts to utilize excess food to address food insecurity while making meaningful connections with the local community. Though successful, we recognized our impact is more significant in focusing our efforts on our restaurant and sustainability services models, rather than a direct service approach, which our community partners do best.

    Today: Collective Fare, a full-service catering company located in Brownsville, Brooklyn took over operations in January 2022 to launch the Collective Fare’s Kitchen and Canteen–a plant-forward sliding scale takeout/delivery concept that leverages subsidies from organizations such as Rethink Food. Through this model, Collective Fare will continue to build on the Rethink Cafe’s efforts of addressing food insecurity by serving local neighbors impacted by food insecurity.

  • Concept: In 2019, we launched a partnership with the Goldman Sachs cafeteria at 200 West to convert their excess food into high quality meals for communities through our commissary kitchen.

    Learnings: The program ended in 2022 however, we have applied many of the learnings to other corporate partnerships, including our recent venture with Brookfield Properties, to launch the first-of-its-kind Rethink Certified Campus at Manhattan West. Through Brookfield's support, Rethink is collecting and utilizing excess food from all Manhattan West food and beverage tenants. Our partnership with Manhattan West is expected to provide 50,000 meals to communities this year.

    >> Read more here

ADVOCATING FOR A BETTER FUTURE

Government support, policies, and institutional commitments are critical to improving our food system so that we can make better use of existing food chain supplies and provide more equitable meal access to food-insecure communities. Rethink Food is actively leveraging its platforms and solidifying relationships in government to address our communities’ growing needs and enact a lasting difference in food security. 

PILOTS AND ADVOCACY

We are always investing in pilots and new initiatives to expand our reach and unlock new funding sources to support a network of restaurants and food businesses, as well as community-based organizations (CBOs). Our most recent initiatives include:

Providing about 2,700 ready-to-eat meals for asylum seekers arriving in New York City in collaboration with Team TLC NYC and Grannies Respond.

Partnering with City Harvest for the 2021-2022 New York State Restaurant Resiliency Program administered by the Department of Agriculture, which allocated 25 million dollars to the New York State food banks. City Harvest received 1 million dollars in partnership with Rethink Food to allocate to restaurants. Together, we provided ~50,000 meals from 19 restaurants—67% of which were minority- and women-owned—and partnered with 9 emergency food providers to serve four boroughs.

Working with the Office of Temporary and Disability to apply the Rethink Certified model to the pilot phase of New York State’s SNAP Restaurant Meals Program. Slated to run in 2023, the program will enable eligible populations to utilize their SNAP benefits to purchase hot meals at selected restaurants and establishments identified by Rethink Food.

Recently completing a ten-week pilot program with the Yemeni American Merchants Association (YAMA) to provide free, dignified meals through several bodegas in Harlem and the Bronx.

On September 28, Rethink Food attended the second White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. Our participation included a bold commitment in conjunction with the CDC foundation for a duration of 5 years, to demonstrate our ongoing support and commitment of building a more sustainable and equitable food system.

Read our full report & our commitment to the conference here.