Words by Smiley Team
Cruelty-free and giving back, a restaurant in Midtown Manhattan specializes in plant-based foods, donates all of its profits to charity – and even hires people reentering society from prison.
P.S. Kitchen wants to promote a community approach to helping people and providing them with the support they need.
“We commit our energy, passion, and time to giving others a ‘hand up’ rather than a ‘hand out,'” reads their mission statement. “Our mission is to break the cycle of poverty by connecting resources to vulnerable communities, providing tools necessary for self-sustainability, and building meaningful relationships with our neighbours, near and far.”
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Around the United States, P.S. Kitchen has been partnering with non-profits that put a focus on self-sustainability like the Doe Fund, an organization that works to end the cycle of homelessness and incarceration.
“This is more than a restaurant and the postscript reflects that there is more to the story,” P.S. Kitchen co-founder Craig Cochran told AM New York. “P.S. We donate all profits to charitable organizations. P.S. We hire staff from underprivileged backgrounds.”
Those at P.S. Kitchen want to highlight that they aim to be more than just a restaurant and that they want to positively impact the people around them.
“This is an oasis where you come in and you love the food, you love the environment, but you realize — P.S., we donate 100% of our profits. P.S., we employ those who need a second chance. And P.S., the food is 100% plant-based so it's better for the environment and better for our consumers,” co-founder April Tam Smith told CBSN.
The restaurant opened in 2017 and became profitable in 2019. They’re consistently expanding the organizations they work with like Defy Ventures, which offers entrepreneurial training to those who were formerly incarcerated, and Justice Rising, a charity that helps provide education to children in war-torn regions.
SUPPORT: You can support P.S. Kitchen by visiting or perhaps buying a gift card as for a friend – it'll indirectly help the charities they support.
VOLUNTEER: Visit the websites of the charities this restaurant supports to see if they need volunteers.
