LA KITCHEN

EMPLOYEES: 8
JOBS CREATED BY LOAN: 52
LOAN AMOUNT: $2,000,000

Robert Eggers, a chef who owned D.C. Central Kitchen for 24 years, decided to move to Los Angeles and bring his “community kitchen” along. Eggers’ community kitchen is rare, because it is a restaurant and a culinary training program that uses donated food to feed the hungry. 

As a nonprofit organization, L.A. Kitchen needed reliable financing to start up, otherwise Eggers’ social enterprise, helping at-risk individuals through this organization, would not be possible. Luckily, through the help of IBank’s SBLGP, L.A. Kitchen received $2 million in funding towards purchasing a 20,000 square-foot-facility. 

“Unlike traditional charities, L.A. Kitchen is a social enterprise that will create jobs for hard-to-employ citizens and reinvest all our profit back into our community,” said Eggers. “Without visionary partners like the Small Business Financial Development Corporation of Orange County, the Nonprofit Finance Fund, and IBank – programs like L.A. Kitchen would stay just that…a vision. Now we’re…about to start helping people get great jobs” 

The loan allowed L.A. Kitchen has kept all eight of its employees and create 52 new jobs. The loan will also allow more than 100 students, mostly foster youth and previously incarcerated adults, to participate in the program each year. By paying it forward, graduates will leave L.A. Kitchen with culinary certificates and job placement support.