Compassion in the Culinary Industry with Jen Hidinger-Kendrick

Zack: 0:00

Welcome to another edition of Give An Ovation, the restaurant guest experience podcast, where I talk to industry experts to get their strategies and tactics you can use to create a five-star guest experience. This podcast is sponsored by Ovation, a two-question guest feedback platform that gives multi-unit restaurants all the answers without annoying their guests with all the questions. Learn more at ovationupcom. And today we have Jen Heidinger-Kendrick. Jen, welcome to the podcast.

Jen: 0:28

How are you? I'm so well. I'm doing great here in wonderful Atlanta Georgia. I'm doing really great. Thank you for having me today, zach.

Zack: 0:35

Well, I am so excited that you're on and for those who don't know Jen, she is the founder of Giving Kitchen and the co-founder of Staple House Restaurant, which is such an amazing restaurant that's got all kinds of accolades from the biggest people. I mean you were voted one of the top new restaurants by the James Beard Foundation, right.

Jen: 0:54

My goodness, yes, we are. That is such a complimentary thing to say. So I actually ended up leaving my partnership at Staple House in 2019 to pursue Giving Kitchen full-time. However, as one of the co-founders of Staple House Restaurant, yes, in my time with leadership with my partners, we received some tremendous accolades. We received Best New Restaurant by the James Beard Foundation in early 2016. And then, later that year, we were nominated as the best new restaurant in America by Bon Appétit Magazine that same year.

Zack: 1:23

So cool, just the pace and stuff. And why don't you tell us a little bit about Giving Kitchen? It's incredible, and when you and I met at a trade show one of like the 50 that I went to last, I don't even know the last couple years, yeah. I've seen you at trade shows and you just have such a good energy about you and I love the idea of what you're doing. Why don't you talk a little bit about Giving Kitchen and what it is?

Jen: 1:44

I would love to. So Giving Kitchen is a nonprofit and what we do is help food service workers. It's actually pretty simple. We just celebrated our 10th year anniversary last year and the whole reason Giving Kitchen exists is because of a community support.

Jen: 1:59

My late husband was a chef Chef Ryan Heidinger, for both originally from Indianapolis, indiana, but moved to Atlanta in 2004 and ended up starting a supper club of our own, wanting to open up kind of this mom and pop full service restaurant many years ago.

Jen: 2:13

And by doing that and engaging with our community in this way to open up Prelude to Staple House, we really developed some amazing relationships and connections here in Atlanta.

Jen: 2:23

So by the time he was diagnosed, he ended up getting diagnosed with a terminal cancer diagnosis in December of 2012. And it was really in that moment where our community just stepped up in such a powerful, significant way that, in turn, a fundraiser was put on in his benefit and our benefit and what was supposed to raise $15,000 to help us through that year. Within three weeks from the moment of his diagnosis to the time this fundraiser was put on, 1,000 people showed up live music, a live auction and again, what was supposed to kind of help us get through. That year ended up raising $300,000. And was an incredible moment in our history of kind of this recognition that there wasn't anything out there to help food service workers and fellow industry members in their time of hardship or crisis, similar to what happened to my late husband. That is really when the idea of giving kitchen formed back in 2013. And here we are going into our 11th year with serving over 17,000 food service workers and their families with financial assistance and resource referrals.

Zack: 3:25

That's incredible and such a touching, moving story and something, obviously your story of providing so much help and joy out of something that was such suffering. And there was a conference I believe that we were both at where someone spoke who she had a stroke. Anyway, I ended up getting her book. It was basically the beauty from ashes to beauty story, absolutely, and I think that there's so much beauty in realizing that the suffering we go through it's not the win lose mentality, but it's a win learn and that ability to give, I think is so essential because in life we have three great motivations the motivation to prove something, to get something or to give something. When your life is driven by the third, by the motivation to give something, it transcends the wins and the losses, the valleys and the peaks.

Jen: 4:16

Absolutely, absolutely. I think you nailed it perfectly. I don't think an idea like giving kitchen could have happened anywhere else. There's really just such a tremendous affinity for relationships and community in this town that this was something that's one of you know, eliana's greatest things, greatest ideas, and I think it's really giving kitchen is becoming one of the most important and impactful nonprofits that we have today, and for an industry that is the backbone of what we all lean on every single day and I do.

Jen: 4:44

I think that there's incredible passion and motivation behind the mission, that there's such an attraction to this mission because of just how in it that people are in our community from an everyday perspective of going out to eat, whether you've worked in food service or you have a loved one who is in food service, or you just have a best friend who's a bartender. Whatever the case may be, there's such an affinity and attraction towards this industry, as well as being coupled with one of the largest industries that we're familiar with. So it is a tragedy turn to triumph kind of story for our origin, but really I think the magic behind giving kitchen is what it has blossomed into, that it's not just about the story of Ryan Heidinger, it has really become the story of thousands and thousands of other people who have truly been infected and their lives changed because of the impact of what Giving Kitchen can provide.

Zack: 5:33

And I was checking this out. You guys have given over $10 million.

Jen: 5:38

Yes, we have hit over 11 by the end of last year. Yes, even in just 2023, it's kind of remarkable. Giving Kitchen served 5,000 people. Last year. We were able to give away $3.5 million in financial assistance just in one year. Since our very beginnings we've helped over 17,000 people thousands of children in the households of these food service workers as well, afforded over $11 million in financial aid and have been able to prevent. We did a study actually with a local college here around Atlanta a couple of years ago and did some assessments on the opportunity of putting a dollar in and how that reverberates back out. So the excess costs or the late fees that someone might incur if they are having to suffer an eviction, or the late fees on hospital bills, or you can ramp up from there by tallying that all up, we've been able to prevent over $18 million in excess costs. So it's pretty amazing.

Zack: 6:30

Wow, let's imagine that I've got a restaurant group. How do I get involved with? Because I like this concept of giving kitchen right. Like I mean, there's a couple of different ways to play off of it. One way that I was thinking about this name is like you want to give to people in your kitchen. You know what I mean. Like you want to make sure that people in your kitchen have enough, and then I like that you guys are cooking up all this, giving stuff right. It's not like a kitchen of burgers, it's a kitchen of I mean, I love it, I love it.

Jen: 6:54

Hey, if it's a marketing pun that'll get people's attention, I am all about it. And in all seriousness, I agree it's kind of interesting, right, like think about the time that you worked in food service and you were young and you were in college even, or just out of college, and this idea of passing the hat. You've got a fellow line cook or dishwasher or something happened. That was tragic and you think you're by yourself, you can't really do anything to change the future for this person. But little did you know that if everybody's passing the hat and putting in their $5 or 10 or 20, that all of a sudden the thousand or $2,000 comes up and you're able to pay for somebody's rent or their utilities for a month or two. You think of that from like this small, individualized scale, and it's not so dissimilar with what we're doing to scale for food service workers exactly in that way.

Zack: 7:37

So what should I be doing as a restaurant tour? I've got some restaurants like I like this concept, like what should I be doing myself and what should I be doing like with, maybe in partnership with you or maybe other organizations I don't know if you're nationwide or how does that work?

Jen: 7:53

Yeah, so we are nationwide. So giving kitchen exists to do two things. I'll say that we provide financial assistance again to food service workers. So anybody in commercial food service, from full service, quick service, catering concessions, cafeteria, food trucks, bars and tap rooms we will offer crisis aid, financial assistance to help cover the rent and basic living expenses if anyone is suffering from an injury. So anybody gets hurt or sick, there's a loss in the immediate family or there's a housing crisis like a flood or a fire. That's where we can step in through financial aid. And we also offer what we call community resource referrals through a program called stability network.

Jen: 8:32

We learned a long time ago that there is oftentimes it's incredibly important to help cover the rent, to get you back on your feet. So if you are missing work, that we can make sure that there's a roof overhead and the water running and you can still put food in the refrigerator for your children and your household members. But after that there's maybe some continued crisis that you didn't consider. So what giving kitchen can do is be that middle person to a very warm referral to either low or oftentimes no cost referrals to get access to mental health counseling or other physical kind of wellness opportunities, anything that you can think of kind of. Within that social impact and footprint, we are gonna have a connection to across the country Giving kitchen helps, food service workers anywhere in the United States and we will give them access and financial assistance anywhere in the United States that they may need it.

Zack: 9:22

That's awesome. So should I, as a restaurant operator, just contact giving kitchen and ask for what we can do to help? Yeah, thank you.

Jen: 9:31

I think there's many ways that we can partner as an organization to organizations or other companies out there that are within food service or otherwise. Yes, there are philanthropic measures that we have available through partnerships or sponsorships or through messaging and storytelling. All of that exists. We have a national dining out program that we focus on throughout the year. It happens in October, though. It's called dining with gratitude, so it's an opportunity for us to really show up for our restaurant partners across the United States, for them to put up a pledge and to be able to share the work of Giving Kitchen not only to their community but to their employees. So it's this kind of equal opportunity buy-in.

Jen: 10:12

We'll educate your staff about what we can do when crisis strikes or again connect you to just any. When crisis is not there, we can still connect you to a lot of community resources. So there's some education around that. And then it's equally a fundraising opportunity for Giving Kitchen. We'll host large events, mainly in the southeast, of course, here in Atlanta, nashville and Charlotte, where we host a lot of signature events for Giving Kitchen. So, yes, there are plenty of partnership opportunities. I think one of the best things that those in food service can do to start a relationship with Giving Kitchen is to a just know that we're available. My biggest dream and hope for this organization is that Giving Kitchen is the first thing that those in food service think of when they need help Again, whether that's a crisis situation or anything else. Knowing that there is the ability to concentrate on that mental health and wellness aspect that I think so many organizations and companies really focus on, that we can be a top priority and a resource to show that we've got their backs.

Zack: 11:14

And this is something where I hear this a lot from people of like, hey, I feel like our employees, I feel like our people are getting too soft right, Like I'm cool with mental health and everything, but man, it's like I just want people to show up to work and stuff like that. What would you say to those people? Like, as you're trying to balance this whole concept of we want to give, we want to provide, we want our employees to be as happy as possible and we also need our people to like show up, how do you recommend having that balance of the firm hand and the soft hug?

Jen: 11:47

I think that's a great question actually, and I think it comes a lot with just the leadership. What I have found to be very successful within our organization is an opportunity to lead with empathy, to be able to provide this atmosphere within culture of creating these guidelines and boundaries that either can be crossed or cannot, and doing that in a transparent way, I think is really kind of the sign of best leadership. From the conversation, of being soft, I do think that humans are hungry to know that there is a safe space to go and work and that trust is never meant to be undervalued or unappreciated. Right, I think creating a space where culture is an extreme priority is really what is going to attract people to a business and to a company and want to stay there long term.

Zack: 12:39

Awesome. So let's give you the megaphone right now and talk to all restaurants in America. What do you wish?

Jen: 12:45

they knew Gosh to any food service worker in America. I want you to know that Giving Kitchen is here and can help you. Today I will say in our history again, we are celebrating our 11th year this year. We have never turned away a single qualifying client who came to Giving Kitchen and needed help not one, and I do not plan to do that anytime soon. So I want food service workers first to know that we are here to help. To the managers and the owners out there, I want you to know that again, that we are a resource. We can be a first line of defense when your team needs it. Whether or not you might be in the select few who have employee assistance programs, we can still partner with you and be an additional resource during that time. I would say from a again, just a general awareness standpoint, we are always gonna be here to answer questions and to partner with anybody who's interested in talking further.

Zack: 13:37

Where can they go to learn more Jen?

Jen: 13:39

GivingKitchenorg. We have top main nav. I will say I'll lead everybody first to ask for help. It is in our top nav of our webpage, givingkitchenorg. We have a multilingual call center and everything that we do that's public facing is in English and in Spanish. So if there's anybody considering coming to us and is concerned about confidentiality, you don't have to worry about it, because we have social workers who will meet you exactly where you're at. Just go to givingkitchenorg, ask for help, or you can go to ways to give and learn more about philanthropic opportunities.

Zack: 14:11

By the way, I love that you guys have both thegivingkitchenorg and givingkitchenorg. When I was going to go first type in the domain, I'm like, oh wait, which is it? Is it the or no the? Is it the least?

Jen: 14:23

It used to be the and then we got rid of the the, but for the OGs out there, some people will still say TGK for the Giving Kitchen and that just makes me smile. But we are Giving Kitchen, that is awesome.

Zack: 14:34

And now this is gonna be a hard one, Jen, you know a lot of people in this industry. Who's someone that deserves novation? Who's someone doing cool stuff out there that we should be following?

Jen: 14:42

Oh my gosh, I have two. I read this and I was like I have two answers. My first answer will, first and foremost, be the food service workers. They are showing up, they are constantly asked to check their feelings at the door. They are first line front row there when we celebrate, when we mourn. The food service workers are absolutely number one in my book, and that's it To all of the partners that we have out there. I'm just really grateful. I think it's really more about the food service workers knowing that you should be really proud of the work that you're doing within food service, because it is a dignity filled industry that you should be really proud of and the opportunity that exists within this industry is very plentiful, especially knowing that Giving Kitchen can be in your back pocket.

Zack: 15:25

Awesome. Well, jen, for showing us that Giving really should start in our own kitchens. Today's Ovation goes to you. Thank you for joining us on Giving Ovation, jen.

Jen: 15:35

My sincere pleasure. Thanks for having me, Zach.

Zack: 15:37

Awesome, jen, that was so good. I know that I had all these questions, that I normally ask guests, but I was just like I just want to dive more into this because you're such a different guest than what we normally have on. And, yes, I do think that the guest experience is important, and sorry if there are the curve ball in there, but with this the guest experience is important but, man, so is the employee experience.

Jen: 16:01

Yeah, yeah.

Zack: 16:02

And what better way to show our employees that we care than by doing things that actually help them?

Jen: 16:08

I totally agree. I was prepared to kind of spin the questions that you maybe probably typically ask your guests in a way that would reflect the obvious work that we do. I do appreciate that because for Giving Kitchen and it depends on the Q&A right it is about the human inside food service and everything that is rampant in this industry that we all know and providing a sense of like help and urgency to this industry. There is this double circle that Giving Kitchen and we strive to kind of tell the story of. It is about the food service worker, but it's actually also really about the community and it's this blend in this pie, this what's it called the Venn diagram, where it's like the intersection in the middle of what actually is like the health and wellness of community is when we blend the dignity, the opportunity, the opportunity for stability for a human and what that actually does for the community for like strength and wellness. Yes, I appreciate that.

Zack: 17:01

Thanks for joining us today. If you liked this episode, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite place to listen. We're all about feedback here. Again, this episode was sponsored by Ovation, a two-question, sms-based actionable guest feedback platform built for multi-unit restaurants. If you'd like to learn how we can help you measure and create a better guest experience, visit us at ovationupcom.