In collaboration with the City of Chicago, the Greater Chicago Food Depository and the State of Illinois have, over the last eight months, invested $17.6 million to support small, mostly Black and Latino-owned businesses in Chicago to feed more than 10,000 new arrivals.
On Tuesday, Mayor Brandon Johnson joined leaders from the Food Depository and local officials at BJ’s Market and Bakery (1737 E. 95th St.) to commemorate the impact of their collaboration and reaffirm their ongoing investment in local minority-owned businesses.
“It’s important for us to provide support for the families who are arriving here while also investing in our Black and Brown businesses,” said Johnson in a press conference at the venerable South Side establishment. “That is who we are as a city, bringing people together to build a better, stronger, safer Chicago.”
In May 2023, the City of Chicago enlisted the help of the Food Depository to address the escalating need for meals for asylum-seeking newcomers at city-operated shelters. Collaborating closely with local authorities, the Food Depository orchestrated a network of restaurants and caterers to supply daily hot meals to an increasing number of shelters.
By the end of 2023, the Food Depository’s 17 contracted dining establishments, like BJ’s Market, provided 18,000 daily hot meals across 21 shelter locations. This impactful response was made feasible through $14.5 million in funding from the State of Illinois and private donations secured by the Food Depository.
Moreover, the program was intended to provide a true win-win by responding to an urgent need of the newly arrived persons in this city and reinvesting in businesses in the city’s Black and Brown communities.
“We believe food is a basic human right, and our mission is to end hunger,” said Kate Maehr, executive director and CEO of the Food Depository, in a statement. “Achieving our mission means we provide food for anyone who needs support today while creating solutions to address the root causes of hunger – poverty, systemic inequity and structural racism. Our work to feed new arrivals gave us the opportunity to meet an urgent demand while creating economic impact and living wage jobs. We did this by investing directly in neighborhood-based Chicago restaurants and caterers.”
Businesses that collaborated with the Food Depository to support new arrivals reported significant revenue boosts and expanded their workforce to meet increased demand. One example is BJ’s Market and Bakery, a Black-owned restaurant serving Southern cuisine in South Deering.
BJ’s Market initially partnered with the Food Depository as a contractor and now operates as a subcontractor of Parish 14. Over the course of their partnership with the Food Depository, John Meyer, the chef and owner of BJ’s, reported a 100% increase in revenue and the opportunity to hire four additional staff.
“Being part of the new arrivals program has been like a new world to me,” said John Meyer, chef and owner of BJ’s. “For the first time in my 31 years in business, I’ve been able to run my restaurant as it’s meant to be. I learned so much about myself, my team and we all are better because of it.”
Among the other restaurants and caterers that partnered with the Food Depository to assist new arrivals were Blueprint Group, Catering Out the Box, Rome’s Joy Catering, Carnitas Uruapan, Food Hero, Chi-Care (a non-profit food collective), Chi-Fresh, Chinese American Service League, Garifuna Flava, Irazu, Jarabe, La Merced, Los Comales, Nellie’s, Atzimba Catering, and Nuevo Leon.
The Food Depository initially piloted this approach in early 2023 to supply meals for Chicago teens and young adults engaged in opportunity youth programs on the West Side, collaborating with businesses from the Hatchery. The organization intends to sustain its investment in minority-owned meal suppliers while expanding prepared meal programs for Chicago and Cook County residents facing heightened food insecurity.
“The Food Depository is thankful to the City of Chicago for trusting us with this important work, and we are proud that the city is embracing this approach to feeding our newest neighbors,” said Maehr. “We are immensely grateful to the State of Illinois and generous donors for investing in this response.”
At BJ’s on Tuesday, Maehr gave her last thank you to the participating establishments for their tireless dedication to providing service and quality to these asylum seekers.
“I want to thank the amazing restaurants and caterers like BJ’s Market & Bakery who partnered with us on this response. For many of them, this work was a seven-day-a-week response, including all of the holidays,” she said at the press conference. They ensured that our newest neighbors received hot, nourishing, culturally affirming meals every day, meals that were crafted with the same level of quality and care that they offered to their loyal customers.”
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