Georgia Organics and the Jamestown Charitable Foundation, a public charity from the real estate investment and management company behind Ponce City Market, have collaborated to launch Food Fight GA.
With a mission to relieve food and income insecurity for food service professionals and Georgia’s small farmers during the COVID-19 pandemic, the new initiative is providing
restaurant workers with weekly grocery boxes including ingredients sourced from Georgia farms and freshly baked bread from Root Baking Co. At this time,
the program is open to current and former staff at Bacchanalia, Floataway Cafe, Staplehouse, Star Provisions and Georgia Organics Farmer Champion restaurant partners, including BoccaLupo, The Deer & The Dove and Miller Union.
“Restaurants think of their teams as family, not to mention the farmers from whom we source and who become our friends, and the Atlanta food community is doing what we can to make sure our people are safe and cared for during this uncertain time,” said Chris Wilkins, Owner & Head Baker at Root Baking Co., who was instrumental in ideating the program from its inception and is providing fresh baked loaves made from organic, locally sourced flour for every box.
“The food community is at the heart of our city, and restaurants and small farms have been especially impacted by this crisis,” says Michael Phillips, President of Jamestown. “We are grateful to partner with Georgia Organics to take action now against food and income insecurity in these affected industries, while providing fresh, healthy ingredients for restaurant staff to feed their families.”
By bringing fresh produce to restaurant workers, Food Fight GA is simultaneously helping to support Georgia’s local food system by mitigating farmers’ lost revenue due to COVID-19. Many small Georgia farms derive revenue by selling to restaurants who are now closed or operating on a limited model of takeout or delivery in response to the crisis. The program sources directly from farms who are existing sellers to the participating restaurants or are members of the Georgia Organics Farm to Restaurant Cohort program. Participating farms include, but are not limited to Ellijay Mushrooms, Hickory Hill Farm, Levity Farms, Pinewood Springs Farm, Rodgers Greens & Roots Farm, Snapfinger Farm, West Georgia Farmer’s Cooperative and Woodland Gardens.
“During the program’s pilot in the last two weeks, Food Fight GA put nearly $10,000 back into the hands of farm partners and has provided approximately 200 produce boxes to Atlanta restaurant workers each week,” says Alice Rolls, Executive Director of Georgia Organics. “Thanks to donors like Jamestown Charitable Foundation and Ponce City Market, we’re hoping to expand the program to feed more food service professionals and support additional farms across the state over the coming weeks.”
Food Fight GA is now accepting donations from the public here via PayPal, and restaurants interested in joining the initiative can learn more here.