Good Work Austin's Non-Profit Café

Good Work Austin is opening Austin's first non-profit café in late 2022 or early 2023.

This project provides Good Work Austin with a tremendous opportunity to make an impact, reach more people, and grow.

The mission of the Café will be:

  • To support people that need opportunities, life skills, job training, and community.

  • To build community around food production with partners, churches, non-profit organizations, and restaurants.

  • To educate the community about cooking and nutrition.

  • To increase access to healthy food in Austin with a focus on the communities experiencing heightened food insecurity.

  • To provide space for restaurants and hospitality professionals to serve the community as food providers and job trainers.

  • To provide space for organizations and individuals to gather and celebrate while supporting GWA.

 

The space will operate as a café, staffed by a team of full-time Good Work Austin employees, and rotating cohorts of students receiving paid job training.


In addition to the café, the space will allow us to host:

  • Events: The space will have large indoor and outdoor spaces equipped with performance areas. The kitchen will allow for full-service catering, bar options, and access to a roster of GWA partners that are equitable employers. The space will be available to non-profit organizations, private individuals, and for-profit corporations for all of their private events.

  • Culinary Classes: The kitchen will be designed to facilitate small group cooking classes led by trained professional chefs working in the Austin restaurant industry.

  • Job Training: GWA will provide a space for our partner agencies that service job seekers to learn culinary skills from our partner restaurants in classroom and café service settings. We will develop a curriculum and require and track mastery of skills for clients to advance through the program. Our GWA restaurant partners will know that all trainees have completed hours in live service as well as coursework. Training will be free for affiliated agencies. Trainees working café service will be paid.

  • Commercial Kitchen Rental: Restaurants engaged in food access work will have the opportunity to use the commercial kitchen at a non-profit rate. This will enable more restaurants, particularly historically disadvantaged restaurant owners and food truck owners, to participate in grant programs that are typically not available to them.

  • Storage and Crisis Hub: During times of crisis, GWA will be able to produce up to 2,000 meals per day to be picked up and/or distributed to those most in need. By creating multiple food hubs across the city, we increase Austin’s resilience in times of need.

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