Restaurant Constance owner to provide meals for HopeWay mental health facility
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Chef-owner of Restaurant Constance and Your Farm Your Table Restaurant Group Sam Diminich. Photo: Peter Taylor
Chef Sam Diminich's powerful personal journey to sobriety and healing will take another next step next month: His Your Farms Your Table Restaurant Group will provide daily meals to clients, guests and staff at HopeWay, a nonprofit mental health treatment organization in Charlotte.
Why it matters: "Food is integral to how we heal and connect," says Diminich, who credits his sobriety in large part to the power of food.
Driving the news: YFYT, Diminich's restaurant group and catering company, will provide breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks at HopeWay's 20-acre campus.
- The meals, made in the nonprofit's kitchen, will use ingredients from local and nearby farms, plus fresh herbs grown onsite.
- HopeWay clients will also have access to interactive therapy in the kitchen through hands-on meal preparation, group therapy and meeting with dietitians.
Flashback: Over a decade ago, Diminich was homeless, and using drugs and alcohol. His life took a turn in 2014 when he was assaulted near the corner of Tuckaseegee Road and State Street — about a block away from where his popular Restaurant Constance now stands.
- After leaving a treatment facility in 2015, he worked his way up through the culinary ranks at local restaurants and eventually started YFYT in 2020. He also worked for a time as the personal chef to former Panthers star Christian McCaffrey.
- In 2023, Diminich opened Restaurant Constance, one of Charlotte's best restaurants.
Between the lines: YFYT has prepared more than 36,000 meals for people receiving inpatient recovery and psychiatric services at several facilities in Charlotte since 2022, per a press release.
Zoom in: HopeWay, which was founded in 2016 and is located in south Charlotte on Sharon Road West, provides in-patient and outpatient treatments to a wide range of people, from veterans with PTSD to teens with eating disorders.
- "With some psychiatric medications affecting appetite or weight, the importance of balanced, nutritious meals with options for those with food sensitivities or allergies is vital in supporting recovery and overall well-being," says Alyson Kuroski-Mazzei, CEO and Chief Medical Officer at HopeWay.
What's next: YFYT will take over the kitchen at HopeWay on Feb. 1. The preliminary contract is for three years, but both parties hope the partnership will extend further than that.