Give Back By Dining In

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Pittsburghers looking to support city restaurants, industry workers, and local farms can now aid all three at once thanks to Allegheny Eats, an initiative where diners give back by eating in.

The initiative, started in January, is an online platform that features meal kits for two, made by local restaurants and food businesses. Allegheny Eats is dedicated to giving back to these industries, hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic; a portion of sales from each meal kit goes directly back to the program, funding free meals for restaurant workers. Along with supporting local eateries, each kit features a minimum of 30% locally sourced products and products, serving as a steady source of income for area producers.

“Even with restaurants opening back up, there’s still a huge need for support. Many restaurant industry professionals are still unemployed or have huge financial deficits that will take them years to overcome as a result of this pandemic,” said Sustainable Pittsburgh Program Manager Rebecca Bykoski in a press release. “The same holds true for restaurants and farms/producers. The statistics regarding closures, staffing shortages, and lost revenues are staggering.”

“This program is unique because we’re giving food lovers the opportunity to enjoy delicious meals and give back to the community that has provided them with countless culinary adventures and memorable occasions,” said Sustainable Pittsburgh Executive Director Joylette Portlock.

Allegheny Eats is a project of Sustainable Pittsburgh. The profit partnered with many local, industry experts to create the program, among them CRAFT at Chatham University.

Current restaurants involved with the program are Bae Bae’s Kitchen, Square Cafe, black radish kitchen, Scratch & Co., Casa Brasil, and The Vandal. Kits include chicken-fried cauliflower, bao buns, braised short ribs, tutu tradicional, soup, and sandwich kits, and peanut butter pancakes.

Restaurants will update their meal kit menus on a rotating basis, while industry meals are expected to change more frequently.

(These restaurants have created meals specific to Allegheny Eats, and the dishes are not available when ordering directly from the eatery. This is to ensure that the program can eventually self-fund, allowing restaurant workers to continuously receive free meals.)

Orders for meal kits can be placed online. The deadline for each week’s meal is on Tuesday, and pick-ups – during a designated time frame – are on Thursdays. Restaurant workers can place orders for their free meals following these same steps, but with orders placed on Thursday for pick-up or delivery on Wednesday of the following week.

Deliveries, only available to industry workers, are made by a team of volunteers from 412 Food Rescue. Soon, the organization plans to release a delivery app to streamline this process.

Restaurant workers do not have to provide ID or proof of employment to redeem a free meal. As of late March, Allegheny Eats has had over 3,000 industry meals redeemed.

“At the end of the day, this is about feeding people,” said black radish kitchen chef and owner Kate Romane. “Food businesses do not survive without the continued support and interconnectedness of the entire community. This program helps keep our chefs making food for you and for our workers who have found themselves unemployed due to the pandemic.”