Raleigh's pay-what-you-can restaurant charts a sustainable future
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A Place at the Table on Hargett Street in downtown Raleigh. Photo: Zachery Eanes/Axios
Eight years ago, Maggie Kane founded the nonprofit restaurant A Place at the Table with the hopes it could be a part of the solution to Raleigh's growing food insecurity and homelessness issues.
- And after providing more than 350,000 meals, Kane says she remains blown away by the impact of the restaurant on Hargett Street while still worrying about its sustainability.
Why it matters: A Place at the Table is Raleigh's only pay-what-you-can restaurant, offering warm meals and space for some of the city's least fortunate to come during the day while bringing all of the city under one roof.
How it works: On a recent morning, a mix of volunteers and patrons of all backgrounds mingled at the restaurant, eating chef-prepared breakfast plates and sandwiches or drinking coffee from the local roaster, 321 Coffee.
- The restaurant offers a suggested price to all customers, but for those who can't afford it, A Place at the Table offers the option of either paying a minimum of $3 or volunteering in the cafe for one hour.
- Once a week, it offers free meals to any family that comes through its doors.
Between the lines: That means the restaurant depends on attracting enough patrons to pay full price for meals to remain sustainable, or increasingly relies on donations from individuals and businesses, plus a growing catering business, to keep going.
- Kane says when the business started, the mix of customers paying full price to a reduced one was 70/30. Today, it is more like 30/70.
Zoom in: Kane founded the restaurant a few years after graduating from N.C. State. Because it was originally rejected by many landlords who were uncomfortable with the concept, Kane first offered the restaurant as a pop-up around town.
- Eventually, she landed at 300 W. Hargett St., a spot the restaurant has been growing in, expanding from a simple prep kitchen to a full commercial kitchen in recent years.
What they're saying: "It's amazing that we are feeding so many people. But to sustain the mission financially, we need paying customers," Kane told Axios. "But the other thing is that the mission is for all people to come together."
- She wants all parts of Raleigh to gather at A Place at the Table and to de-stigmatize those facing or on the brink of homelessness.
- "We want people to sit at the community table together ... and to get more paying customers in the door to see our mission."
What's next: Kane doesn't see the need going away any time soon, and remains just as focused on the endeavor as she was eight years ago.
- "People are living paycheck to paycheck right now," she said. "It's not getting any better, so we need to keep places like this."