A dream became reality for Loaves & Fishes this week with the opening of the commissary kitchen in collaboration with Urban Ventures.
The full commercial kitchen will be used by Loaves & Fishes staff to cook large quantities of rescued food. Those entrees will be reheated and distributed at community dining sites. Prepared food will also be used for Urban Ventures’ needs and programming.
“This kitchen has been in our planning for years – it would not have happened without the generosity and partnership of Urban Ventures,” Loaves & Fishes Executive Director Cathy Maes said. “We are so grateful and this will make a huge difference for our staff, volunteers and ultimately our guest.”
In addition to shifting rescued and farm food preparation to our own central, commissary kitchen, Loaves & Fishes will create a new program called, “Cooking for All.”
Located in an area where 51 percent of youth are growing up in poverty, “Cooking for All” will serve meals onsite, utilize urban farm produce grown in the neighborhood and, with sponsorship from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, educate staff, volunteers, meal partners and Urban Ventures’ students to incorporate low food waste techniques into everyday cooking.
