Kitchen To Go (KTG) is not your average catering company – every day they prepare nearly 2,000 fresh meals for the unhoused, the elderly and for low-income students at schools.
“Our motto is, ‘cook with your heart, make food with your hands,’” said Erica Rios-Lopez, chief community officer.
What started less than two years ago as a collaboration between Chef James Dongo, CEO, and Chef Geronimo Lopez, COO, now operates with 18 staff members and over 50 years of combined culinary experience.
They want to “set a different tone and expectation of food quality” for the people they serve, especially with feeding the unhoused, Rios-Lopez said.
KTG is trying to change the narrative of, “‘they’re just unhoused’ or ‘they’re getting it for free’ or ‘they should be grateful’” to “they should be seen, they should be loved, they should be validated and they should feel whole.”
A Small Piece to the Solution
“We’re a small component to a big humanitarian problem,” said Lopez.
“Can you imagine someone who’s trying to fight an obstacle where they’re already 100 steps behind?” he asked. “Part of the process of healing – besides joining a group, getting cleaned up, finding a job, getting your s**t together – starts with a meal.”
Lopez has come full circle – it was 13 years ago when he started helping a friend feed unhoused people from the back of a car every Friday.
He was trained at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts Program in Pasadena, worked in Hollywood, but left that position to cook at Providence Holy Cross Hospital. It’s there that Lopez spent nine years learning how to adapt his cooking to recuperative care and medical conditions.
He later joined Hope the Mission, a nonprofit homeless service provider, where he spent another seven years developing and growing the organization’s food services.
When Lopez started, there were only two volunteers and they were producing around 100 meals a day. By the end of his time with the organization, they were producing around 5,000 meals a day with 27 employees. They opened 18 sites, plus emergency shelters and food programs during COVID.
Andy Soto, executive chef at KTG, also worked alongside Lopez at Hope the Mission.
That decade of experience feeding and working with the unhoused now translates into their work at KTG.
Valley Raised Brings Understanding
Dongo, Lopez and their two partners, Denise Espita and Rios-Lopez, all grew up in the valley – San Fernando, Sylmar, Pacoima and North Hollywood – and they now operate KTG out of a ghost kitchen at Lenchita’s in Pacoima. Lopez, who grew up in Section 8 apartments just down the street, was ecstatic when they moved their operation to his hometown.
All their parents left their respective home countries – Mexico, Peru and El Salvador – and settled in the valley to provide a different life for their children.
“Our parents came here as immigrants with nothing,” said Rios-Lopez. “Not only did they come with nothing, they left their faith, their culture, their religion, their families, their language, their food and to fulfill a dream that they had for us.”
“You want to make your parents proud. You want to show them to an extent that their sacrifice can be seen in this lifetime,” she explained.
Their determination, hospitality and love for food stems from their families and culture. Dongo took over his mother’s catering business, Nana’s Kitchen Inc., which he still runs, and Lopez said his love for food originated from childhood when he would help his parents sell tamales and menudo to make extra money for the family.
“My passion is food. I love food,” said Lopez. “The most rewarding part … is that people smile. That first reaction [when they try your food], you can’t make that up.”
“We believe that food brings people together from the time of birth to the time of death. It also creates community, and it breaks barriers and brings conversation,” said Rios-Lopez.
Knowing Your Client
In addition to having cultural ties to the local community, the experience of the KTG team brings an awareness about who they’re servicing.
“For me, it goes back to just knowing who you’re feeding, understanding the client,” said Lopez.
KTG adapts their contracts to fit each organization’s needs, said Rios-Lopez.
The first question they ask when consulting with a new client is, “How do you refer to the people that you serve? Guests? Participants? Clients?” and then adopt that same language going forward with the organization.
“We’re an extension of that agency and we are also an allyship to their staff,” she said.
KTG provides a rotating menu – from scrambled eggs and pancake breakfasts, to beef fajita and orange chicken dinners. They substitute special meals for holidays and modify meals for dietary restrictions, such as pureeing food or mincing up a meal for someone who can no longer chew.
Lopez said it’s about providing their expertise while being flexible and adjusting to how these organizations function. For example, if one organization provides individual rooms for their clients, equipped with their own small kitchens, it would be a waste to deliver all the food as hot family-style meals. It would be better to prepare individual meals that someone can grab and reheat.
KTG utilizes different delivery methods for the food based on the organization’s needs – either family style, in one big pan or as individual meals. The food is delivered hot to clients who want to serve it immediately. For others, the meals are cooked to a point and chilled so they can be reheated later without losing quality.
Rios-Lopez said they also rotate their delivery drivers and have kitchen staff do ride-alongs with their drivers “so that they never lose connection with who we serve.”
Anuar Chable, who manages the fleet of delivery vehicles, said his favorite part is seeing and interacting with the people they are feeding. He said “it’s cool” to have people ask about the menu or get excited about holiday meals.
A Call For More Accountability
“The biggest question we’re asked is, ‘Is this consistent? Once we bring you on, will this change? Are these the portions we’re going to see?’” said Rios-Lopez. “Those conversations are being developed, because now people are a little scared of who they’re going to sign a contract with.”
She said the reality is that people can be greedy, putting profits above everything else, and some of their clients have had bad experiences in the past – promised one thing and provided another.
“I think what needs to change is accountability for all agencies from start to finish, and their extension vendors as well,” said Rios-Lopez.
Lopez added that large corporate caterers often focus on consistency and efficiency over quality. They may use frozen food to cut costs and don’t provide variety in their menus because they want the same product served to all their clients across the country.
As a smaller self-run business, Lopez said they have more freedom to be adaptable and try new things, while still turning a profit.
“You can operate on a budget and still produce good food. Because as we [increase] volume, we can save in our costs,” said Rios-Lopez.
“Our biggest goal is that our heart still aligns. … That we’re serving the community first,” she said.