The Town Kitchen connects low-income Oakland youth aged 16-24 with local chefs and artisans to plan, prepare, build, box and deliver curbside lunch to companies and individuals in the Oakland and San Francisco Bay area.
Our Community Lunchbox highlights our community through food. Every menu is designed by a guest chef, created by our youth workforce, and partnered with local artisan food businesses. It includes a locally-sourced main course, dessert, and an eight ounce drink. Companies and individuals will order from a rotating monthly menu.
![]()
We strive to create a community where low-income Oakland and San Francisco Bay Area youth can shine. A community where we will introduce youth to talented chefs & start-up entrepreneurs. In the next three years, we plan to provide fair-wage jobs and entrepreneurial training to 43 low-income Bay Area youth.
A Commercial Kitchen, A Second Home for our Youth
For us, a kitchen represents so many things -- passion, teamwork, sustenance, growth, and empowerment. The right kitchen will allow us to lease a 2000 square foot kitchen where 10 youth will work alongside Bay Area superstar chefs to execute up to 600 lunchboxes a day.
Of the $40K we’re raising, we will allocate $15K to kitchen supplies and equipment, enabling our youth to prep delicious meals:
![]()
![]()
A few highlights from our amazing list of rewards and perks:
Our Delicious Community Lunchbox!
At a discounted rate of $10 for the length of this campaign (regular price $13).
The Town Kitchen Tote
![]()
The Town Kitchen (Perfect) Mug
![]()
Canvas Utility Apron (actual!)
![]()
Hand-crafted Leather Knife Roll (actual!)
![]()
A dinner party led by some of these fine folks
Youth are the core of The Town Kitchen. We will educate and train local low-income Oakland youth in food preparation, food entrepreneurship, and food justice. They'll also take part in The Town Kitchen decision making and have equity in our business!
Hiring high-potential youth makes them less likely to be incarcerated and more likely to graduate from college. This is crucial because California has the highest number of incarcerated youth in the U.S. (11,532). California also has the second lowest percentage of youth (25 or older) completing a bachelor’s degree: 18.2%.
Benefiting the Local Economy
Employing youth is also better for our local economy.
For every $1 invested in youth skills, $10 goes back into our local economy!
![]()
We are humbled to work closely with three amazing partners: Institute for Sustainable Economic, Educational, and Environmental Design (also known as I-SEEED), Youth Seed, and Impact Hub Oakland. I-SEEED is helping us create a curriculum for our youth that will give them college credits at San Francisco State University and other colleges, Youth Seed supports us with an engaging youth entrepreneurship program model, and Impact Hub Oakland is our amazing co-working space.
We are also thrilled to work with talented San Francisco Bay Area chefs and artisans like Chef Jefferson Sevilla, formerly with Google’s San Francisco office and SpoonRocket, along with local artisan businesses such as Divine Chai, Sugar Knife Sweets, and Kika’s Treats.
We’d be eternally grateful if you can share our campaign via your social networks (e.g., Facebook, and Twitter), email, morse code, telegraph, or any other way you can think of!
![]()
![]()
Win a spot in The Town Kitchen Recipe Book!
Share your favorite (most impressive) recipe on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram - with #TheTownKitchen - and you could land a spot in the official Town Kitchen Recipe Book! Our executive chef will select the top shared recipes throughout the month and our talented youth artists will illustrate them into a one-of-a-kind recipe book available online (and as a reward on this page!).
![]()
Sabrina Mutukisna: Sabrina's previous gig was the California Teacher Pathway, her go-to dance move is the "Roger Rabbit", and her last meal would be her aunt's crab curry.
JP Hailer: JP's previous gig was Director of Operations for Growth Sector, her go-to dance move is The Funky Charleston, and her last meal would have to be a bean burrito and rice from Casa Reynoso in Tempe, AZ.
Jefferson Sevilla: Jefferson (Cheferson) previously worked at Google, his go-to dance move is the "Bernie Lean", and his last meal would be a hot, steaming bowl of authentic Japanese ramen.
Jenn Gross: Jenn previously worked for the San Mateo County Health System, her go-to dance move is the "Running Man", and her last meal would include her mom's noodle kugel and carrot cake.
Linda Yang: Linda's previous gig was Operations and Recruiting at AeroFS. Her go-to dance move is salsa steps and her last meal would be homemade dumplings by her family.
Katie Matsushima: Katie’s previous gig was Glass Guide at Google, her go-to dance move is the hand shuffle, and her last meal would have to be hamachi sashimi and steak hibachi at her family's restaurant.
Contact Us
If you have any questions, comments, ideas for perks, or just want to say hello, please contact Sabrina Mutukisna here: sabrina@thetownkitchen.org.
