Celebrity chef and restaurateur Marcus Samuelsson recently called New York City restaurants “the beating heart of life” in the city, which provide “pathways to careers and livelihoods.” They can also be key to combating the city’s hunger epidemic.
Samuelsson’s comments came with Mayor Mamdani’s Aug. 27 announcement of a 15-person Business Advisory Council, bringing together leaders from various sectors that drive the city’s economic engine. The council is a sign of the mayor’s willingness to engage corporate leaders to shape the city’s economic future and an opportunity to connect his economic agenda to the community’s needs.
Restaurants are critical for New York’s economy, generating $11.4 billion in wages in 2024, contributing $2.8 billion to the city’s coffers in fiscal year 2025, and employing nearly 310,000 people. Yet rising food costs — along with rent, childcare, and transportation, among other expenses — limit access to nutritious meals for New Yorkers.
More than 1.4 million city residents, nearly 17%, experienced food insecurity in 2023, up from 12.8% in 2019. The most vulnerable are children, people of color, people with disabilities, and the elderly. Compounding this, food rescue operations need support, and food pantries are fighting to keep up with soaring demand.
Restaurants can be a catalyst in fighting food insecurity by working alongside nonprofits and the city government to create a model that feeds New Yorkers and strengthens small businesses and the communities that serve them.
Food insecurity is not limited to people in visible crisis. It shows up in choices people should never have to make: a college student stretching a part-time paycheck across tuition, rent, and a campus meal card; a parent turning down work shifts due to expensive childcare; an older adult whose mobility complicates earning income or accessing a grocery store; a worker earning just enough to miss out on assistance, but not enough to cover the high cost of healthy meals on top of necessities.
The infrastructure we need already exists. Surplus food rescue is important, but restaurant kitchens, workers, and suppliers can be utilized to prepare nutritious meals for communities. We can invest in the food infrastructure that is already operating in our neighborhoods, rather than build an entirely new system.
Restaurants employ people and drive the city’s economic and cultural activity, but they can expand dignified food access beyond paying patrons by partnering with nonprofits and community-based organizations.
The Mamdani administration has taken steps to help food-insecure New Yorkers, and it has already pursued changes that could help both restaurants and nonprofits. The Prop 1 and Prop 2 ballot questions aim to speed up restaurant approvals and reform nonprofit contracting and procurement, respectively. But there’s a larger opportunity: link support for small businesses with reforms that help nonprofits deliver essential services. Our elected officials should take this one step further.
City Hall should convene restaurants, nonprofits, community-based organizations, and city agencies to develop a citywide strategy for restaurant-prepared community meals, such as piloting a meal-purchasing partnership. Restaurants have kitchens, workers, suppliers, and deep roots in their neighborhoods; nonprofits understand local needs and how to reach communities; the city government can coordinate resources and create policies that make collaboration easier to sustain.
Hunger can keep New Yorkers from participating in their communities and contributing to our vibrant economy. The city is capable of expanding access to nutritious, culturally-relevant meals, while strengthening local businesses and supporting jobs; it’s just a matter of connecting resources and establishing local stakeholder partnerships.
Jozwiak is CEO of Rethink Food. Kasirer is CEO of Kasirer LLC.