The owners of KIN were all ready to open their brand-new fine-dining restaurant in Boise, Idaho. They designed the space, hired their staff, and created a modern American tasting menu of 7-12 courses as part of a communal dining experience where every guest eats the same dish at the same time while making connections with fellow guests. Everything was ready to go and the team received their occupancy permit—one day after the city of Boise shut down in March 2020.
Like so many restaurant owners, Remi McManus and Kris Komori sprang into action, partnering with other local businesses to start the nonprofit City of Good to help feed vulnerable populations in the Boise community.
“We understood we were going to have to furlough our staff,” said Komori. “Mental health issues run rampant in the restaurant industry and it was a scary time, so we wanted something to keep ourselves busy.”
First established to feed restaurant workers and help local farms keep their produce from going to waste, City of Good evolved to provide children in need with what they called weekend fuel kits: six meals for an individual child for the weekend.
Intuit® QuickBooks®, with an office in Boise that employs more than 450 people, recently donated $5,000 to City of Good. This donation will provide approximately 1,500 meals for kids. Alex Chriss, Intuit’s executive vice president and general manager of the Small Business and Self-Employed Group, told McManus that he was inspired by the group’s commitment to caring for their community.
“At Intuit, one of our core values is we care and give back,” said Chriss. “Our employees really invest their time, money, and energy ensuring we give back to the communities we’re in.”
McManus said giving back to the community was always a part of the KIN plan, “but it wasn’t until COVID happened that people would actually pull the trigger and put in the hard work to make it happen.”
For Komori, City of Good was a natural evolution of the restaurant group’s mission. “Our restaurant is named KIN. We believe that family is not just our restaurant family; it extends out to the community. There was a definite need, we have an ability, we’re cooks, there’s a great need for care and love, and we are doing our part.”
For City of Good, chefs at each participating restaurant make the fuel kits onsite every Friday, volunteers pick up the kits. and take them to schools around the Boise area where they are distributed to the kids. There is an emphasis on making sure the meals have a high nutritional value, but are also something kids will eat.
The most successful dish so far? A mac and cheese dish that isn’t entirely what it seems.
“It’s made with roasted carrots,” said Komori.
The post Intuit QuickBooks donates $5,000 to Boise’s City of Good to provide 1,500 meals for kids appeared first on QuickBooks.
