When you eat at PS Kitchen, you know that your money is helping multiple good causes.
Well, if you read the fine print at least. The bottom of the menu includes a note reading, "P.S. All profits are donated to charity. A follow-up note states, "P.S. We're plant based," which is the 2017 way of saying "we're vegan" while not scaring off any picky meat-eaters.
"We really wanted to work with organizations that provide a business engine to a problem, and that way you're giving people a hand up instead of a hand out," said owner Craig Cochran. "That's really the goal here, to empower people."
But that's really only half of the story. In addition to donating its profits, the restaurants goes one step farther. They give people jobs, from those same organizations they are building relationships with through financial support.
"It's one thing to cut a check to a sort of faceless name, but to employ someone and work with them day in and day out, it's a very different relationship, and it's much more rewarding to me personally," Cochran said.
Here are the organizations they work with:
1. Share Hope
Share Hope works with garment workers in Haiti to provide better wages and living conditions for workers and their families.
2. Restore NYC
Restore helps survivors of sex trafficking by providing residential housing and economic empowerment.
3. The Bowery Mission
The Bowery Mission serves New York City's homeless and hungry with a variety of transformative programs.
4. The Doe Fund
The Doe Fund helps secure work, housing, education and counseling for people with a history of incarceration, homelessness and substance abuse.
And the food's not too bad either. The menu is primarily inspired by French cuisine, but with a global flare. Think a sophisticated, pan-international take on high-end vegan fare. Menu items include ginger rice congee, buffalo hen of the woods, and maitake bao.
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