Restaurants provide more than just food to end hunger

Designing a restaurant to become a force for good led Venture Kitchen to implement One Feeds Two and feed thousands of children around the world.

Back to all stories | Posted on 03/10/21 in NewsBlog

For David Sloan, managing partner of Venture Kitchen, serving amazing food with great service wasn’t the only thing that he wanted to bring to the people in the Chicagoland area – he wanted to bring a simple way to help end childhood hunger.

Designing a restaurant to become a force for good led Venture Kitchen to implement One Feeds Two and feed thousands of children around the world. 

               Guests in Schaumburg, IL enjoy delicious eats at Blackwood BBQ 

The solution came when Sloan was researching a new restaurant concept while traveling in London. He was introduced to One Feeds Two and immediately wanted to operate a chapter in the United States. The key, stated Sloan, was to incorporate this philanthropic aspect into the heart of the restaurant’s business plan from the very beginning. “The economics have to work and you have to make money, but when you add in your gift to charity at the start, it’s a powerful tool and that’s the biggest difference.”

The model of One Feeds Two is simple: whenever someone buys a meal at a Venture Kitchen restaurant or a product from any of the other members of the consortium, a school meal is donated to a child living in poverty. Over the past two years, through the generous support of One Feeds Two, more than 1,900 students have received meals for an entire school year. 

Sloan ecstatically adds, “It is a great concept and easy for our customers to understand.” 

Another attraction of One Feeds Two's partnership with Mary’s Meals is the tie to education, “What I love about partnering with Mary's Meals is that we get to feed all these kids while encouraging them to go to school and get an education, so that they can break the chains of poverty. That’s what we are motivated to do.” 

With a service staff of over 150, Sloan and his business partners have worked to make sure that helping to feed children isn’t just a slogan, but rather, becomes a part of who they are as a company.

“There are alot easier ways to make money than going into the restaurant business,” Sloan laughs. “But if you do, it’s because you love taking care of people.

And the great thing about the restaurant business is that it’s filled with people who have a good heart and want to do something good for others.” 

Despite the challenges of Covid-19 from the past year, Sloan remains optimistic about building a record-breaking company in order to feed more children. “The phenomenal thing is that when I look at the challenges that these children have to go through, nothing that I’m facing even compares. So, in reality, the kids motivate me – to open more stores so that we can donate more meals in their places of education.”

INVICTO offers authentic and inspired Mexican street food in an exciting environment

Sloan hopes that the success of Venture Kitchen & One Feeds Two within the USA will inspire other businesses to join the movement across the country. “I’m a big dreamer and I want to end childhood hunger. There are a lot of great people out there and we can do it if people step up to get involved.” 

Mary’s Meals USA is incredibly grateful for our partnership with One Feeds Two and our shared mission of feeding children in their places of education. Through work like this, more children can be fed, and more businesses can be supported through these times. 

Find out how your business can do more: Email Patty Burns patty.burns@marysmeals.org