When Urban Recipe started in 1991, founder Chad Hale knew he wasn’t trying to start a food pantry. While pantries are vital to serving families in emergency situations, he envisioned a model that would be able to provide not only regular food support, but also packaged in a way that is collaborative, community-driven, and sustainable.
Urban Recipe was born and built based on a food cooperative model from Florida, and adapted to meet the needs of families in Georgia. As Urban Recipe grew from one food co-op to two, to now ten, the focus remained the same – promoting food security and dignity through intentionally designed community-driven food cooperatives prioritizing equitable food access, relationship building, and active participation.
If you have seen our truck rolling past, you know the words splashed across the back and sides of the vehicle: “Dignity Tastes Good.” Urban Recipe Food Co-ops are structured to remind families of their inherent human dignity, and encourage active participation in the food they receive. Dignity tastes good, and it is a key ingredient of our recipe for food security.
Urban Recipe’s model, like any good recipe, is made for others. We are delighted to share this recipe with our neighbors in Atlanta. As we grow and adapt, we keep our eyes on the people who will participate in Urban Recipe. Partners who open co-ops through our Cooperative Pathway Program, partners who distribute food via our Mobile Pantry, co-op members who collaborate with each other to serve and to receive food – all of these people are integral to Urban Recipe.
Our food co-ops are built upon our values, our ingredients to success. The mission is built on care, responsibility, courage, and community. Every one of our staff, volunteers, partners and co-op members bring these ingredients to the table:
Care: We care about what we do to ensure we honor every neighbor’s dignity and meet the needs of our cooperative work. We approach our work with empathy and care to understand the diverse experiences of those we serve as well as each other.
Responsibility: We take responsibility for stewarding the food cooperative model and upholding high standards in all our actions. We believe we all have ownership in our quest to foster food security, equitable food access, and self-reliant communities.
Courage: We nurture a culture of courage that fuels innovation and drives us to adapt, refine, and discover new ways to combat food insecurity.
Community: We value the strength that comes from unity and strive to create a sense of belonging in sustaining vibrant communities that are self-reliant, supportive and inclusive. We aim to build robust relationships founded on respect and the dignity of every person involved.
These values, folded together into the recipe of our food co-op model, provide families with the comfort of knowing where their next meal will come from. Not only do families receive food at Urban Recipe, they share what they receive. In 2023, 85% of our co-op members reported sharing some of the food they received at co-op outside of their home.
The last line of any good recipe is “Enjoy!” Our co-op members spend co-op meetings growing with one another. They walk out of their co-op meeting with bags of groceries in hand and the tools to enjoy not only their food, but also the skills they gain through co-ops. These leadership, communication, collaboration and decision-making skills are grown further as members choose to share them with their own neighborhoods. Urban Recipe Food Co-ops succeed because our members succeed. It is because of their commitment to each other that we can continue to feed our community. Together, we have a recipe for food security.
