10 Restaurants With A Cause

These restaurants are doing more than just serving up fantastic food; they are changing lives!

1. Zambrero's Restaurant

Via zambrero.com

Zambrero's Restaurant is fast and healthy Mexican food with a mission. This chain serves up fresh tacos, burritos, nachos and quesadillas using locally sourced chicken and environmentally friendly practices. Their plate 4 plate program donates a meal to someone in need in a developing country. Zambreros also wanted to help locally, so for every superfood muesli bar or packet of black rice a customer purchases from their retail range, Zambrero will donate a breakfast meal to an underprivileged Australian community.

2. Rosa's Fresh Pizza

Via rosasfreshpizza.com

Rosa's Pizza is just your average local pizza joint, a place to get a great slice and chat with your neighbors except for one thing- this pizza joint donates up t 100 slices of pizza to homeless locals EACH DAY. So how does it work? Customers can choose to add $1 to their total and write a note on a post-it to stick on the wall. Any homeless person can come in, grab a post-it note and redeem it for a slice. After their cause had gone viral, they were able to hire more employees using an agency that employs homeless locals, furthering their give back program.

3. Even Stevens Sandwiches

Via evenstevens.com

Even Stevens Sandwiches is a craft-casual restaurant serving sandwiches, salads, bites, and a localized experience unique to every shop. By offering fresh perspectives on nostalgic recipes, the “anti-cookie cutter” brand honors tradition while leaving an open door for creativity. Conceived by Utah-based social entrepreneur Steve Down, Even Stevens is more than a progressive restaurant brand: it's a sandwich shop with a cause. For every sandwich sold, they donate a sandwich to a local non-profit partner. Allowing non–profit partners to save cash on feeding community members in need and instead direct their resources towards life–changing programs.​

http://evenstevens.com/story/

4. Ninety Nine Restaurant & Pub

Via 99restaurants.com

This local restaurant and pub loved to give back to their community and has even raised over $1.6 million for local charities in 2016 alone! Over the past 35 years, their team members have prepared and served over 500,000 restaurant-style meals to Pine Street Inn, New Englands largest homeless shelter. This pub even participates in a job training program, helping local homeless people find employment.

5. Natural Garden Cafe

Via whfi.ph

The Welcome Home Foundation is a non-profit, non-governmental organization serving the deaf people of the Philippines. Their cafe, Natural Garden Cafe, promotes healthy eating and sustainable practices while employing and entire deaf staff. Diners enjoy interacting with, and learning about the culture of the deaf population; likewise, many enjoy learning the basics of sign language over the course of a few meals.

6. Cafe Momentum

Via cafemomentum.org

Cafe Momentum is a nonprofit helping at-risk youth get off the streets and out of trouble with intensive culinary, job and life-skill training, as well as continued mentorship and support, enabling them to achieve their full potential. the job training is 12 months long and upon completion the kids are placed in a job with one of their community partners.

7. Mission Chinese Food

Via missionchinesefood.com

Mission Chinese is known for their incredible food and as a perk, for every meal sold they donate $0.75 to The San Francisco and Marin Food Bank and have raised over $1 million since 2015.

8. Homegirl Cafe

Gregory Beylerian & Jose Zakany / Via homeboyindustries.org

Homeboy Industries has an extensive list of services they do for former gang members from job placement to tattoo removal and Homegirl Cafe is just one of the great things they do to assist former gang members in turning their life around. At the cafe, employees work side by side former enemies in every aspect of the restaurant from cooking to managing all while working with a case worker for education and mental health needs.

9. Sisters of the Road

Via sistersoftheroad.org

in 1979, Sandy Gooch and Genevieve Nelson opened Sisters of the Road with just $10 and a dream. Sisters Of The Road is a nonprofit Cafe in Portland’s Old Town/Chinatown neighborhood working to create systemic change that will end poverty and homelessness by providing nourishing meals in a safe, dignified space. Anyone can come in and buy lunch with a drink for just $1.50, the same price it was in 1979. If customers can not pay the $1.50, the cafe accepts SNAP benefits/EBT cards, meal coupons and barter cards. The cafe is run by volunteers working for a meal or just to help.

10. The Oregon Public House

Via oregonpublichouse.com

The Oregon Public House is the first ever nonprofit pub. When you get a drink or a meal here, you get to choose where you want your funds donated from a list of local nonprofit organizations and all profits after operating expenses and contingency savings are donated! This pub not only supports local nonprofits but helps get them recognition as well by featuring different organizations to support.