Upcycling Kitchens use overlooked food to feed people, not landfills

Turning rescued ingredients into delicious meals

Our Upcycling Kitchen located at Salvation Army Harbor Light, transform edible food that would otherwise have gone to waste into nutritious meals for eaters and partners.

We take in more than 100,000 pounds of surplus produce from farms, grocery stores, and other food distributors, as well as unexpected ingredients and spare ingredients from local restaurants.

A “hospitality, not charity” mindset, the chefs transform food that has nowhere to go into meals that are fit for a king or queen. Since our first kitchen opened in January 2021, the chefs have made 450,000 meals which have kept roughly 500,000 pounds of food out of landfills.

Meet our Chefs

We employ professional chefs with the creativity and skill to transform surplus food into delicious, nutritious meals. Each week, donated food arrives from rescue partners including farms, pantries, distributors, and grocers.

Our chefs collaborate to design weekly menus that make the best use of these deliveries, freezing or preserving any items that can’t be used immediately.

Learn about our community

Individually packaged meals, sealed in clear containers, are distributed directly to our eaters—with no proof of need required.

Some visitors take meals home for themselves, while others deliver meals to neighbors with transportation or health challenges.

We believe everyone should be treated with dignity, and deserves a choice when deciding what to eat

That’s why our Chefs and volunteers provide our eaters with a variety of healthy options when cooking, preparing, and distributing meals

Case study: Nothing Bundt Cakes

Direct impact

meals distributed each week

Our impact on the environment

pounds of methane prevented in 2023

pounds of food diverted from landfills in 2023

meals served in 2023