If you’re well-connected, you can make anything happen, even with  fruits and vegetables.

In 2020, this was the case for Kim Calichio and Omar Bravo-Pavia, two chefs looking for a better business model when COVID-19 put a damper on their original plan. A few years prior, the duo founded The Connected Chef, a community program in Queens, New York, teaching families to grow and cook their own food utilizing the space around them. The concept was off to a great start until the pandemic hit, and everyone went into isolation.

The venture was indefinitely put on hold. 

At the same time, Calichio and Bravo-Pavia watched fellow restaurant workers lose employment overnight. Many did not not qualify for stimulus assistance. Gaining a new perspective, The Connected Chef decided to seek a solution. 

“We started going to supermarkets to buy fresh produce for our friends. We began to bring the food to places throughout Queens, the Bronx and Brooklyn, the idea just grew from there,” Bravo-Pavia tells Replate. 

The idea became a lifeline grocery initiative selling boxes of fresh, locally sourced food, with a sliding scale payment structure to accommodate for trying times. A box from The Connected Chef consists of healthy, nutrient dense fresh produce, grains, various types of protein and bread. The box is curated to aid families on a weekly basis. Recipients choose a staple base, and can add on grocery items such as local honey, bread, eggs, and meat.  

“We are giving out food that families can also use to cook,” says Ali Kassem, Assistant Operations Manager. “We want families to benefit from this food in multiple ways. We see a large disparity between us and other organizations, who tend to donate unhealthy alternatives such as canned and packaged food.” 

Families pay on a sliding scale based on need and ability. Some pay $25, some pay nothing at all. The program is designed to withstand high volumes of recipients, however families are encouraged to opt-out of the $0 box program when they feel financially stable. 

Within their first week of service, The Connected Chef started acquiring and transporting food for 25 families, and by the second week, that amount doubled. It’s grown exponentially ever since, now serving over 700 families a week.

“We leave it up to the recipients to decide if they no longer need the food, and just really have them understand that there are other people who are waiting,” explains Calichio. “This way recipients can pass on these benefits to another person in need. I think because we internally maintain a very honest, and transparent relationship within the community, people who receive grocery packages understand that, and so this sense of trust and transparency is reciprocated.” 

Aside from organizing and distributing free groceries to communities in need, The Connected Chef distributes boxes at their Urban Farm Stands in Astoria and Long Island City. 

“We would be distributing boxes in neighborhoods and people would come up to us and ask us if we were a farmer's market and if they could buy our food,” says Calichio. “We were like, ‘Why are we saying no?!’ And so it was this natural evolution which coincided with how we wanted The Connected Chef to build equity. We can't just be giving out free stuff all the time. We have to create levels for all types of people.” 

She adds, “Right now the sliding scale boxes are our only source of income. We utilize that income to pay our team, cover material supplies and operating costs, so it essentially funds the programming.” 

In addition to their grocery box service, The Connected Chef works with various mutual aid partners across NYC, which helps them continue their work in providing education on sustainable food sourcing and cooking. Some exciting next steps, include creating an equitable community-rooted food system, as they work towards procuring space to grow their own food for distribution!

Learn more about The Connected Chef here!

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