Overview:
• La Soupe, a Cincinnati-based nonprofit, uses professional chefs to transform food waste into meals.
• They plan to double their capacity by 2026 and have partnered with Second Helpings to develop a Rescue Kitchen Network Capacity Building Program.
By Katie Funk
La Soupe, a nonprofit organization based in Cincinnati, uses professional chefs to transform food that would otherwise go to waste into delicious meals for those in need. The organization was founded in 2015 by Chef Suzy DeYoung and promotes a “Rescue, Transform, Share” model to reduce food waste and food insecurity.
La Soupe is no stranger to capacity building. Since 2019, the organization has grown its food rescue efforts by over 200% – it will divert over 1.4 million pounds of food this year from the landfill. By 2026 the organization plans to double its capacity from its 2023 numbers providing over two million servings to the Cincinnati community.
To spread the model in Ohio and beyond, La Soupe partnered with Indianapolis-based Second Helpings to develop the Rescue Kitchen Network Capacity Building Program. Second Helpings served as a mentor to La Soupe in its early stages. Since 1998, Second Helpings has rescued 50 million pounds of food from the waste stream, prepared and delivered nearly 20 million meals in the greater-Indianapolis area and graduated 1,050 adults from its culinary job training program. Second Helpings continues to serve record numbers of people each year.
Clients at food pantries are not always able to cook for themselves. Lack of equipment or cooking experience, physical or emotional disabilities and time constraints are just some of the barriers faced by many people seeking a nutritious home-cooked style meal.
At the same time, some surplus ingredients are difficult for traditional food rescue organizations to distribute due to bulk packaging, looming expiration dates or marketing for commercial use. Shifting this food into the hands of trained professionals at a central location provides a solution to these challenges. Ingredients can be transformed into meals immediately and distributed frozen to food pantries and meal sites – extending the life of the food, keeping it safe and allowing partners to focus on other services.
The year-long program covers the foundations of building effective food rescue and agency partnerships on a larger scale: operating a professional kitchen, utilizing rescued food, administrating core “Rescue, Transform, Share” programs and measuring inventory and impact. It aims to connect like-minded organizations to share knowledge, direct resources and build effective partnerships that grow commissary programs to maximize impact.
Ohio-based members of the Capacity Building Program’s first cohort have set ambitious goals:
- to increase food rescue to over 1.5 million pounds annually by 2026
- to increase meals provided to their communities by over 35% to more than 320,000 annual meals by 2026.
Generous support from Governor Mike DeWine’s administration and a grant from the Ohio Department of Job and Family services directs flexible funding to Ohio-based organizations to support their efforts to scale up their operations. This money is enabling organizations to implement or expand programs that support less waste and reduce food insecurity in Ohio communities. The organizations are using these funds to purchase cold storage improvements, acquire refrigerated trucks for safe transportation, upgrade buildings, pay new staff members and purchase kitchen equipment that enables volume cooking.
The Rescue Kitchen Network is recruiting partner organizations for its second cohort. Applications are due by June 15, 2024. The program is actively seeking partnerships in the Midwest but all interested organizations with experience in food rescue or operating commissaries are encouraged to apply.
If you are interested in learning more, reach out to kfunk@lasoupe.org. You can also find more information on La Soupe’s website at www.lasoupe.org/inspire.