Bozeman’s Only Pay-What-You-Can Restaurant Launches Fundraiser in Advance of 10-Year Anniversary

HRDC’s Fork & Spoon restaurant will celebrate its 10th anniversary next month on March 20th, and thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor who pledged to match up to $10,000 to honor this special occasion, a fundraising campaign has been launched to raise an additional $10,000 in 10 weeks. The Power of 10 campaign launched on Valentine’s Day and will continue through the end of April with a goal of raising a $1,000 each week.

To encourage donor participation during the 10-week fundraising window, for those who donate $25 or more, a random drawing will be held to award 10 take and bake meals to a single donor.

Supporters of HRDC and the Fork & Spoon realize the positive impact their giving has for others in our community. Last year alone, donations funded approximately 23% of the restaurant’s operations. Leah Smutko, Head Chef and Front of House Manager, knows first-hand just how far donations go in helping keep the restaurant open for everyone. “We are incredibly lucky so many members of our community agree with our social enterprise approach to running a restaurant.Without it, we would not have been able to serve over 25,000 meals last year, many of which were to those experiencing food insecurity.”

Fork & Spoon operates as a social enterprise in several ways. The pay-what-you-can model generates a nightly income from patrons who are able to pay, which in turn offsets the cost todiners who are only able to make a partial contribution, or in some cases, no contribution toward their meal. Proven to be very popular, the restaurant’s take and bake program offers a wide variety of scratch-made brunch and dinner options for those seeking convenient meal options. Outside of Fork & Spoon’s business hours, the dining room space is rented for meetings and events and the kitchen space is rented to small entrepreneurial food-related businesses. All generated income is directly reinvested back into Fork & Spoon operations.

Jill Holder, HRDC’s Food and Nutrition Director, proudly speaks to the restaurant’s staying power, “We are ten years into serving nutritious, chef-prepared meals to our community at prices that work for everyone and in some ways, it feels like we are just getting started. There are so many opportunities for us to continue to grow our service offerings, expand our relationships with local growers and producers, and innovate new ways to address the growing food insecurity many of our neighbors are experiencing.”

Recently voted one of Bozeman’s best kept secret by locals, Fork & Spoon is a bit of an undiscovered treasure deserving of the community’s patronage and support. Whether through adding the restaurant to a short go-to list of options for dining out, volunteering to help serve meals a few times a year, or making a donation to the Power of 10 campaign, each effort makes a tangible difference for others.

 

Fork & Spoon is open for dinner Sunday through Thursday from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. Nightly dinners can be prepared for pick up, and fresh-frozen meals are also available for pick-up during these times as well. On Fridays, walk-in service is available from noon to 6:00 pm to pick up to-go meals or something from the take and bake freezer to warm up later.

More information about HRDC’s Fork & Spoon restaurant, can be found at https://www.forkandspoonbozeman.org/.

For all other HRDC programs or services, visit thehrdc.org.