NYC Landlord Launches Charity to Use Restaurant Kitchens to Provide Food Assistance

Manhattan office landlord SL Green Realty Corp.  announced the formation and launch of “Food1st”, a non-profit foundation to be organized as a 501c3, to deliver thousands of meals daily to front-line, first responders and medical personnel, elderly New Yorkers and food insecure families.

In addition to addressing the increasing demand for food assistance across New York City, Food1st will also help revitalize New York City’s food and beverage industry by reactivating restaurant kitchens, to serve the NYC and bring restaurant staff safely back to work.

Phase One Underway
The effort will launch this morning from chef Daniel Boulud’s downtown prep kitchen and initially provide up to 1,600 meals per day to New York City’s frontline medical workers as the City continues to battle COVID-19.

A second phase, scheduled for next week, will include additional SL Green tenants and partners to reach New York’s most food insecure populations. In turn, this will re-activate the kitchens of some of SL Green’s food and beverage tenants, with the goal of preparing and delivering more than 150,000 meals funded by SL Green’s initial grant of $1 million. Heightened safety precautions and protocols will be in place at all participating kitchens to ensure the health of all involved.

The vision is to provide meals to those who need them, safely bring food workers a paycheck and restore vitality and energy to the NYC. “By establishing and seeding the Food1st non-profit, we hope others will join us in the fight to alleviate the food shortage in New York City caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,"said Marc Holliday, SL Green Chairman and CEO. 

The initiative will work in partnership with Boulud, who will open a new restaurant at SL Green’s One Vanderbilt later this year, and add other restaurants and non-profit organizations to ensure the widest possible preparation and distribution of food.

Outreach is underway to additional SL Green tenants, non-profit partners and neighbors to quickly expand the program, reach more New Yorkers and support some of the thousands of food and beverage workers currently without work. The restaurants will provide fully-packaged, healthy meals, with volunteers helping to load and deliver meals. Anyone interested in supporting or partnering with Food1st can reach SL Green Senior Vice President Laura Vulaj at [email protected].