Nonprofit Finance Fund Lends $2 Million to L.A. Kitchen
New York City — February 13, 2015 — Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) is providing a $2 million loan to support the launch of a social enterprise whose integrated services model uses healthy food to create positive change in Los Angeles. The loan to start-up venture L.A. Kitchen will allow the organization to outfit a 20,000 square foot commercial kitchen, purchase equipment, and move beyond its pilot phase to a full-scale launch in 2015.
Housed within LA Prep, a food business accelerator and incubator space, L.A. Kitchen is a nonprofit social enterprise dedicated to providing job training and permanent jobs to people with barriers to employment, improving nutrition and meal services for older Angelenos, and reducing food waste. L.A. Kitchen's job training program, currently operating out of St. Vincent Meals on Wheels as a pilot project, prepares youth aging out of foster care and adults leaving incarceration for jobs in the food service industry. By partnering with local farms, wholesalers and food service businesses, L.A. Kitchen reclaims produce that would have otherwise have gone to waste. Job trainees and volunteers use this local produce to prepare healthful meals, which are given free or at a reduced price to social service organizations.
“We are incredibly grateful for the vision and support that the Nonprofit Finance Fund is providing the L.A. Kitchen. NFF understands the social benefits as well as the financial realities of what we are trying to accomplish,’ said Robert Egger, the Founder of L.A. Kitchen. “Our goal is to be a premiere example of the power of social enterprise to empower people and strengthen the community.”
L.A. Kitchen was founded in 2013 by Robert Egger, the Founder and former President of D.C. Central Kitchen, a $12 million organization that trains 80 food service workers annually and produces 2 million meals per year. Half of the meals produced are sold under contract to the D.C. public school system, and half are donated to social service agencies.
"L.A. Kitchen is both a start-up venture and a replication of a proven business model. We’re investing in a visionary leader and in an undaunted, experienced team committed to enhancing services for a growing population of vulnerable seniors and to creating opportunities for unemployed people in Los Angeles," said Jennifer Kawar, Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of NFF. "We’re excited to partner with Robert and his team to bring the social benefits and impact of the DC Central Kitchen model to Los Angeles. This is a compelling example of what social enterprise can accomplish across multiple issue areas.”