The temps might be frigid, but we hope you had the opportunity to dine in or carry-out during the 2024 KC Restaurant Week. This year, one of the three nonprofit benefactors is Kanbe’s Markets, a Byrne Pelofsky client and trailblazer in the food insecurity space. Kanbe’s Markets is on a mission to build a more inclusive food system by transforming food loss into food access.

Kanbe’s Markets provides consistent access to fresh, healthy and affordable foods in the areas of Kansas City designated by the USDA as food deserts. Kanbe’s works to alleviate food insecurity by making deliveries of fresh produce to small business convenience stores in food deserts across Kansas City, Missouri and Jackson County through the Healthy Corner Stores (HCS) program. The HCS program supplements the existing staple food items sold at the corner stores by supplying fresh produce, which creates a more well-rounded grocery experience in a community that lacks reasonable access to conventional grocery stores. Through their Food Redirection Program, Kanbe’s redirects hundreds of thousands of pounds of produce that was destined for the landfill to where it is needed most, whether that’s Healthy Corner Stores or into our region’s food banks and pantries. What isn’t high enough quality to feed people provides high-quality feed for animals and farms or is composted, transforming it into valuable fertilizer. In 2023, Kanbe’s rescued 500,000 pounds of food from landfills and redirected it through these channels.

The 15th annual Kansas City Restaurant Week took place from January 12 –  January 21. Participating local restaurants (currently 214) offer prix fixe lunch + dinner menus priced at either $20, $40, or $55. As tradition goes, 10% of all Restaurant Week proceeds will go toward three charities. 2024’s recipients include Kanbe’s Markets, the Visit KC Foundation + the Greater Kansas City Restaurant Association Education Foundation.