HRDC seeks to raise $1,000 per week for 10 weeks to help fund Bozeman’s only pay-what-you-can restaurant
Over the past eleven years, HRDC’s Fork & Spoon restaurant has worked to ensure all community members have a warm meal to eat. Today, the significant rise in food costs has placed additional pressure on individual and household budgets making the restaurant’s pay-what-you-can model a solid tool that can be used to help stretch household incomes.
HRDC is seeking the community’s participation in raising $10,000 over the course of 10 weeks to help meet the increase in demand at Fork & Spoon. To encourage donor participation, an anonymous donor has generously offered to match every dollar raised up to $10,000.
Supporters of HRDC and Fork & Spoon realize the direct impact their giving has on others in the community. Forty percent of Fork & Spoon’s annual operating budget comes directly from community donations, and so far, donations to the restaurant sit at just 23 percent of their overall budget with just 4 months remaining in their fiscal year to raise the difference.
Andy Galloway, program manager, knows first-hand just how far donations go in helping keep the restaurant open for everyone. “Our social enterprise approach to running a restaurant has been very well received by community members. Without donor support, we would not have been able to serve over 22,000 meals last year, many of which were to those experiencing food insecurity.”
Fork & Spoon operates as a social enterprise in several ways. The pay-what-you-can model generates a nightly income from patrons who are able to pay, which in turn offsets the cost of diners who are only able to make a partial contribution, or in some cases, no contribution toward their meal.
Additional revenue is generated through the restaurant’s catering and take-and-bake programs which offer a wide variety of delicious, scratch-made meals. When not in use during Fork & Spoon’s business hours, the dining room space is rented to groups for meetings and events while the kitchen space is rented to small entrepreneurial food-related businesses. All generated income is directly reinvested back into Fork & Spoon operations.
Jill Holder, HRDC’s Food and Nutrition Director, is grateful Fork & Spoon has been able to make a tangible difference in the lives of so many community members. “We believe nobody should ever have to go to bed hungry,” she says. “If we meet our goal, our spring fundraiser will allow us to continue to serve nutritious, chef-prepared meals to everyone who walks through our door, regardless of how much money they have in their pocket.”
Fork & Spoon is open for dinner Sunday through Thursday from 5–7pm. Nightly dinners can be prepared as take-out orders, and fresh-frozen meals are also available for pick-during these times as well.
On Fridays, walk-in service is available from noon to 3pm to pick up to-go meals or something from the take and bake freezer to warm up later.
More information about HRDC’s Fork & Spoon restaurant can be found by visiting www.forkandspoonbozeman.org, where you can make a donation today.
For details about all other HRDC programs or services, visit www.thehrdc.org. •
