Jasmine Kitchen + other purpose driven restaurants

Greenville will soon be home to a restaurant that’s serving up scratch-made comfort food with a heaping side of community service.

Jasmine Kitchen, the cheerful yellow building on Augusta Street , is set to open on Feb. 10 . and while their food service is something to look forward to – with a lunch menu of sandwiches, soups, salads + desserts – their social mission is what really sets them apart.

Jasmine Kitchen is the social enterprise of Jasmine Road , a Greenville-based nonprofit supporting survivors of sexual exploitation + addiction. Jasmine Kitchen will support Jasmine Road’s mission by providing women in their residential program with employment + job training.

Here’s how it works : After six months in Jasmine Road’s program, women can begin working at the restaurant. In the time that they’re with Jasmine Kitchen, women are equipped with a resume of culinary training, work in the service industry, financial empowerment + education, and a sense of belonging in the community. Jasmine Road aims to support and empower the women who are a part of their program, providing them with the resources + skills to thrive independently.

What’s more, just by dining at Jasmine Kitchen the community can support their mission. All proceeds from the restaurant go back to fund Jasmine Road.

It’s a concept that nourishes communities, and they’re not the only ones to do it. Here are some other restaurants serving purpose driven plates:

🍽️ A Place at the Table , Raleigh, N.C.
This pay-what-you-can cafe is one of 60+ restaurants in the One World Everybody Eats global network. Customers have multiple options for paying for their meal (including volunteer time) + patrons who are able can pay it forward by purchasing $10 meal tokens.

🍽️ The King’s Kitchen , Charlotte, N.C.
A nonprofit restaurant providing job training + life-skills programing to “Charlotteans in search of a new beginning.” 100% of their profits from sales go towards feeding the poor in their region.

🍽️ The Café at Thistle Farms , Nashville, TN
At The Café at Thistle Farms patrons enjoy a meal served by graduates of the Thistle Farms 2-year residential program, designed for women who have faced trafficking + addiction.

🍽️ Rosa’s Fresh Pizza , Philadelphia, PA
Although this pizza joint closed in 2019, it was one of the most notable examples of a restaurant operating with a pay-it-forward mission. They went viral for their wall full of colorful sticky notes (each representing a customer who had paid for another’s meal) + were even featured on Ellen .

Another restaurant in Greenville that’s simultaneously serving the community + delicious bites is Woodside Bistro . The Village of West Greenville eatery has a “Paying it Forward” wall where diners are able to purchase meal cards for diners-in-need to exchange for a free lunch.

That’s the kind of “soul food” we’re craving.