THE FLAVOR
This kitchen was built by the community it serves.
The Table We Set
The Kind Kitchen Group is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that uses culinary education and socio-emotional learning to impact people's foundational belief systems that determine outcomes across health, education, and wellbeing during the years when identity is most fluid. We utilize culinary arts education as the medium, not the message, to cultivate nourishment autonomy in every person we impact.
The One We’re Building
We see a world where food meets purpose (tagline) through reducing all barriers to nourishment. We use food as a tool to develop identity because it's immediate, tangible, cultural, and deeply personal. It lets us meet young people where they are and help them begin the discovery of who they are by intervening at the identity level.
FOUNDING STORY
From the kitchen to the community — and back again.
The story of Kind Kitchen Group is the story of two Black female chefs who grew up in communities like the ones we serve. Our connection to this work is not programmatic — it is personal.
The founding team of Kind Kitchen Group didn't set out to build a nonprofit. They set out to feed people — and discovered that feeding people is one of the most powerful acts of community there is.
What started as a commitment to showing up with food grew into something much larger: a full culinary education ecosystem serving youth and families across Durham County, with school partnerships, a summer institute, a community listening series, and an agriculture program that connects young people back to the land.
Every decision KKG makes is shaped by two things: lived experience and community voice. We grew up in communities like this. We know what's missing. And we are done waiting for someone else to build it.
We are the cooks. We are the teachers. We are the neighbors. We built this for us.
OUR INGREDIENTS
What we put in is what comes out.
Like any good recipe, the quality of the ingredients determines the quality of the result. These are ours:
-
We listen before we build, always
-
No young person is turned away because of cost
-
Our leadership reflects the communities we serve
-
Cooking together is an act of defiance against systems that want our communities to struggle
-
We show up, every time, with food
-
Young people aren't recipients of this work. They're architects of it.
OUR COMMUNITY
Set The Table
Durham is our kitchen. These are the people at the table.
We serve youth in grades 5–12 across Durham County, with a focus on young people from historically underserved communities. Many are connected to us through Durham Public Schools — Rogers-Herr Middle School, Fayetteville Street Elementary, and Hillside High School — and through direct community outreach.
Our community is multigenerational. Community Conversations bring adults, families, parents, and neighbors to the table alongside young people. Our industry partners — Counting House, Monuts, Del Norte, Que Dogs, Lakewood Social — are Durham neighbors, not outside experts.
We have a 92% average attendance rate across all programming. That's not a metric — that's a relationship.
Who's on the line with us?
We work alongside 35+ community organizations, school partners, and industry leaders who share our belief that food is one of the most powerful pathways to belonging, confidence, and career.
School partners: Rogers-Herr Middle School · Fayetteville Street Elementary · Hillside High School
Restaurant & industry partners: Counting House · Monuts · Del Norte · Que Dogs · Lakewood Social
Community partners: Durham Public Schools ecosystem and 30+ additional organizations
Interested in becoming a partner? Head to Feed The Work — we'd love to cook with you.