In this first full episode, we sit down with Maggie Kane. Maggie is the founder and executive director of A Place at The Table, a pay-what-you-can cafe in Raleigh, North Carolina. We explore the challenges the cafe has faced while serving more people, how they are working to live into their mission, and what she is hoping for in a post-pandemic world. Recorded: October 2020
"Table" refers to the organizations, "A Place at The Table"
Website: https://tableraleigh.org/
Social Platforms:
Facebook: A Place at the Table
Instagram & Twitter: @tableraleigh
(music: sound effect of a *restaurant kitchen that fades out)
[00:00:00] Kenneth Brown Jr: I haven't eaten at a restaurant in months. Ever since the pandemic started, whenever I have ordered from a restaurant, it has been to go through a drive-through picking it up every Wednesday. I get a hot dog from Community Deli on Oberlin. They do dollar hot dogs on Wednesdays. I placed the order and then I'll wait outside.
As they bring food to those who are waiting? I do not know the next time I will eat at the restaurant. One of my last memories doing so was that a mellow mushroom with my coworkers and their families in Boone at the end of 2019,
(sound effects of a crowded restaurant plays then quickly fades)
I've come to realize that restaurants have been and continue to serve as places of gathering. Celebrate good news connect with friends. Beginning of our relationship, local restaurants can be major institutions. Telling the story of a city. [00:01:00] They have also been one of the hit industries due to the pandemic with many struggling to survive based off takeout and delivery alone.
My family was personally affected because the restaurant where my dad worked at a barbecue restaurant in high point closed for good in April, you can not talk about my family and not mention that place. My dad always put home something at the end of the day for my siblings to share sometimes a gallon of sweet tea.
Sometimes he used to bring home biscuits and grit every year for the church picnic. We brought banana pudding from the restaurant, the ultimate full-circle moment was when they catered an event that I was helping to plan when I was a student at Elon.
As I reflect, I think about other restaurants that have been struggling with figuring out their next moves or pivoting to a different model. But what do [00:02:00] you do when your restaurant has a greater mission than just serving good food? What do you do when this is a nonprofit and now your services are needed more than ever.
How do you motivate your team to keep going? How do you pivot and live into your mission? This is Pivots, a podcast about navigating transitions, negotiating change, and reimagining our world. I'm Kenneth Brown Jr. Exploring these questions. I've chatted with Maggie Kane in October. Maggie is the founder and executive director of A Place at The Table. , a pay-what-you-can cafe in Raleigh, North Carolina. This was a wonderful conversation and Maggie is a pretty cool person and A Place at The Table have been challenged over the past few months, but their mission remains the same, which is to provide community and good food for all. Regardless of means
(music: "Funk and Flash" by Blue Dot Sessions)
As I was doing some research and [00:03:00] on March 11th, you all released your standard newsletter. and then for me, March 11, was that date where like the world was stood still (laughter) And then five days later you released a COVID update and you said, "Table family, this is our time to shine. To extend our table wider than it's ever been before to stare down and certainty and then do the next right thing."
And so I was wondering how do you define pivot and what does that look like?
Maggie Kane: Well, awesome. Thanks for reading those newsletters. I agree a hundred percent. That is March 11th. I was at a wedding in New Orleans and I think I had right before sent the newsletter, the normal monthly newsletter out and then went to New Orleans, got back, and the world just like changed right and we're still living through that. My definition of pivot is that it's probably the most used word in 2020, and I love it. I use it every single day. [00:04:00] I think it's adjusting it's seeing what the community needs at the time and being able to adjust and work around it and be flexible. We at "A Place at The Table" have had to, I mean, literally, take day by day and change things. So, from March 11th to March 16th, I could have probably written another newsletter on March 17th and then March 18th.So, no, truly, I've been trying to stretch out my newsletters cause there's seriously an update every other day.But I think, to answer your question, it is just being able to be flexible and see what the community needs in that moment and work towards making it happen.
Kenneth Brown Jr: Gotcha., you know, it's interesting that you touched on seeing what the community needs because you know, essentially your model, It's a business, but it's also somewhat of a nonprofit, you know,helping [00:05:00] the least among us, helping those who are down. And I can only imagine how much, you know, just you has a person, you know, with the work that you do have been more heightened and more just aware of what your community may need and then responding to that.
So what has that looked like? What has those conversations look like? Whether it's with people who come to the table often or new people or even with your staff because I saw that pre-pandemic, you are serving between 50 and 60 free meals a day and now it's been hovering around the 300 mark per day, which is a dramatic shift.
Maggie Kane: Yes, well, we're all losing our minds a little bit, but aren't we all during COVID. It's interesting that you asked that. I will talk about how, how we've pivoted and adjusted, and then we're at a really critical moment right now where we are making a big pivot. [00:06:00] So I'll start with, you know, back in March, what happened. Before listening to what your community needs, I truly believe you should listen to what your family what your core team needs.
And so, I sat down with our whole staff, all 15 of us baristas, line cooks, chef, manager. Our manager of volunteer engagement and I sat down and I said, "What do y'all want to do? How do we feel? Do you feel comfortable? We will close the doors right now. If y'all don't feel comfortable being here."
And they all said, "Nope, we're ready to rock it. Let's go Maggie." And I went around the group and made sure, and I also said, call me after this, if you didn't feel comfortable saying in front of a group, because I think you really, you gotta have everyone on board and that's important, especially with such an unknown virus and unknown moment that we're all in.
We put our heads down and together and [00:07:00] said, "How do we be the best we can be, served the most amount of people, and be that place that that community needs right now to fill this need?" And so we did not shut down a single day. We came up with a solid plan, reopened the next morning only curbside and granted the day before we had 30 volunteers, an additional or maybe 60 volunteers, people volunteering for their meal, and 20 folks who have regular shifts with us in the cafe volunteering. And we had ... it would look completely different. Shut down. No volunteers. Did all curbside, set up a table outside. At that time we weren't even really wearing masks, right, and so we tried to social distance as much as possible and then at the end of that day, we sat down again and then we sat down again and we kept chatting and making the best decisions for what the community needed. We went from serving again like you said that 50 to 60, those free meals a [00:08:00] day. And let me say those 50 to 60 were folks who volunteered for their meal. They would come in, volunteer alongside our staff, and volunteer for their meal. We stopped volunteering. So, then those 50 to 60 free meals became a hundred and then the next week became 150. And what we saw at that time where other nonprofits were closed to figure out their plan. So we were becoming that feeding site. We were seeing a lot more folks who were experiencing food insecurity, a lot more folks who were filing for unemployment as the weeks and months went on. And so again, our team, every week we sat down and said, "Okay, y'all are we still filling this hunger need that we need? What other places are open, what's going on in this community?" And well, we came to, yes, we are. So, we had to, we changed our days in times to be more flexible with people's schedules. We changed the way we did things outside multiple times to be safer and better. And by the end of it, as of two weeks ago, we were serving upwards of about 350 free [00:09:00] meals and we had folks could call their order in, they could also walk up and stand in line and get their order. Prior to COVID, our model was 65 to 70% of people paid for their meal, paid something or the suggested price or more, 35 or 30 volunteered for their meal or use the token, which is a free meal that's handed out in the community. Then COVID hit and that ratio kept flipping. So now it's about 99.9% of people don't pay and that's 0.1, right pay. So, we actually said that that's as of two weeks ago, that that's what happened and I can jump in, I can answer questions about that or jump into what happened after that.
We did on last Friday, we did shut our doors down for a short moment so that we can adjust and pivot even more.
Kenneth Brown Jr: I saw that and I [00:10:00] wanted to talk about that because the first time you all closed down it was to renovate and those renovations took a bit longer than expected. But you know, you all, you know, prepared for it. You knew that this was going to be a thing and that you had to do it. But now and then also looking through some of your other newsletters, like personally for you during that summer months your dad had passed away and all of these things were going on, your community was hurting. And then now fast forward to October with all of these things and now closing down again to try to figure out how to live into your mission, to live into your values. How do you navigate that? How do you process that? How do you make that choice to say, We have to do this really to do this potentially really hard thing and [00:11:00] so that way we can be the best organization that we can be for the people that we serve?
Maggie Kane: Yeah. When we closed down the first time we were serving about 300. 300 people. And we got the opportunity to close our doors and renovate our kitchen so we could serve more people and be more efficient prior to COVID we had a very inefficient kitchen. It was, we had ovens the size of a microwave and did not have a hood, which most restaurants have to be able to serve so many people. And so I really said "We need to close. We need to be able to be the best we can for this community and my staff needs a bigger space." They need to be working in a bigger space. They need to be able to push out more meals. So we closed. It also was a perfect time because again, I try to put our staff first and we had been grinding for four and a half months at this. And it was you know, I, I really believe this whole COVID. During the past couple of months, we're all [00:12:00] experiencing trauma and crisis and chaos. And so I really wanted to give our staff a mental health break. And so that was the perfect time to do it. Fast forward, we grind out again, we keep serving more and more people and meeting new folks and it was great but the point we got to was as of last Friday to be completely transparent and honest it became unsafe. This many meals, this many people in a short window of time, it really became unsafe for our staff. Fights were breaking out, it was more and more folks were coming and I just knew that for our staff sake, we needed to shut down and figure out how to be the best we can be and serve the most amount of people with what our mission is and what is our mission? You asked how I handle this and how I navigate it. Like everyone does, I was on our call [00:13:00] last week with Damon's group and so many great leaders group and I bawled my eyes out. So not well but I have a lot of great people in our, in my life and in "a table's" life to help guide these decisions and to come up with what the best decision is, what we came to was. You know, refocusing or what we're coming to is refocusing our mission and looking at what is it. We filled this need in the community for six months and it was awesome and we were incredibly fortunate to do. We fed people. That is what we did. Now that nonprofits are back open, now that there are other places such as the soup kitchen and things like that, we realized that our mission is not just that feed people, feeding people with our pool towards building community.
Our mission statement is to provide community and good food for all, regardless of means. So we really are looking at that right now and how do we get back to what our mission is? Because there are so many other great organizations too, [00:14:00] and for us to survive in the long-term, we need to be living our mission. And again, prioritizing our staff and what they need, and if it was becoming unsafe, then it's time to make some changes.
Kenneth Brown Jr: One of the thoughts that comes to mind is you're leading, you're running a business and working with these people, but also recognizing that we all have our limits and we .....like that like "feeling your feelings" and sometimes, you know, getting caught up in everything that's going on, that we just don't give ourselves the time and the space to cry or to scream or to just feel our feelings about everything that's been going on.
Maggie Kane: Oh yeah. Oh yes. I felt like, as a leader, I had to be the one that held strong the whole time. Right. And I [00:15:00] had to keep my head up and be the encourager, which there's part in that I do, right. But I'm allowed to have those feelings too. And so I don't think I cried for the full, like first five months and then I went back to therapy and as soon as I walked in the door, it's like the flood gates are open. And this is all hard and just because I'm a leader and just because I'm the leader of this organization doesn't mean that I am not going through trauma too and chaos and crisis and everything that I give my staff that, that moment to breathe. I got to give myself that too, so I can continue to lead this organization. So, like I said, last Wednesday, I was bawling my eyes out. I bawled my eyes out all weekend because I also know I would love to continue to feed 350 people a day. I mean that is my heart. I love sharing. I love sharing, you know, sharing food with people, but for "Table" to be successful for the [00:16:00] long-term, for my staff to, to be safe mentally and physically, I have to think of the bigger picture of where A Place at The Table" needs to be.
(music: "Speaker Joy" by Blue Dot Sessions)
Kenneth Brown Jr: It's kind of hitting on this point of having this both and mindset. In one newsletter, you mentioned both feeling ache for your community and sharing the stories and also filling some light. A quote you said about "My Shero, Maya Angelou says this try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud." How do you be a rainbow in someone's cloud?
Maggie Kane: Yeah, I wish we could ask her. Right, but yeah, I think showing up and continuing to show up with that smile on your face [00:17:00] and being present with people is, is how you be a rainbow in someone's cloud. I... as I kinda.... as I said, we're all going through this trauma. This is heavy. This is not easy.
This is not easy for anyone. I don't care what people say. People are lonely. People are longing for something and someone. People are long longing for normalcy and so I just think if you can show up, if I can show up and be present with folks at "A Place at The Table," with my staff, with people that are getting meals outside and just be there, put a smile on my face then there's a little rainbow there. We all need, we need each other. We need to learn to lean on each other. We need, we need to have community. Cause that's, what's going to get us to make it through these really hard times is each other, is community. I think community is the answer to everything and that's the rainbow to me.
[00:18:00] Kenneth Brown Jr: That's like at the end of the day, this is like change, even though it's like a massive dramatic change, almost every few hours, but change is constant, change is it's natural. Has there been any experiences from your life that you have drawn on that has kind of helped guided you and these pivots?
Maggie Kane: Yeah, well one, because you had mentioned it a little bit ago, my dad actually died of COVID over the summer, and so COVID is real. Y'all COVID is real. But a couple of years ago, I was working a full-time job and working on "Table" as well at the same time, "Table" was not, "A Place at The Table" was not open yet and my dad actually suffered a severe stroke and was hospitalized for weeks, turned into months and I became his caretaker.So my life changed overnight. I was full-time taking care of my dad and being present with him. [00:19:00] And so I think that was the moment that I said, look, I can do hard things and things are gonna come my way and it will be okay. And there are a lot of people in my corner that are here to help me. And there are a lot of rainbows in my cloud that can help me and are present for me and I can reach out and ask for help. So that was a big defining moment to me in, in my life where I just learned that I was resilient and that we're all resilient. and just because something comes our way it's okay to pivot your life and adjust and take it day by day. And at that time there was no planning for the future. It was what is, what do I need today? What does my family need today? What does my community need today? and I think that's okay.
Kenneth Brown Jr: What gives you [00:20:00] hope during this time?
Maggie Kane: People for sure. People is my passion and if it comes to a moment and I'm starting to feel down or discouraged, I think of when I think of all the folks that are getting meals at "A Place at The Table" and think of their stories and remind myself., "This is why I do what I do, and this is why I've committed my life to it. " And then also people in my life I really believe we need each other. And so people in my life are they're my hope. They're the reason. my life is so great. I'm also a person of faith and so my relationship with God is really important. and that's my hope too. I mean at the end of the day, my hope is, like, I just think of the wine. I'm going to drink that too. There's my hope in just day by day. But ultimately it's just that the folks that I've been so fortunate to have in my life, and [00:21:00] I think we'll say, I don't think I know this community is going to rise above this. I know we're going to get through this. I know we're going to look back in 10 years and have shared some really cool different moments and moments like this on zoom and so I know that our community is going to get through this.
Kenneth Brown Jr: Speaking of getting through this, whenever this does end or whenever there's some sense of normalcy, whatever that is, what do you, and it's a two-part question. What have you been learning? And what do you hope sticks around long after this pandemic? Five, seven years from now?
Maggie Kane: Yeah, is it going to be five, seven years. Again,I need a plan. I'm just kidding. I think it's probably what I said earlier [00:22:00] is that one, day by day is the answer and it can always be the answer that we needed, that we are, it is okay to take it day by day and not have it all figured out. I have put so much pressure on myself the past four years to have it all figured out, to have the plan, to have where's "Table," where's "A Place at The Table going," what am I doing after "A Place at The Table?" And not knowing the end plan is okay. It is okay. Then two, I think knowing that the importance of life is not how successful you are, how, what trip am I taking? What, you know, what award, whatever, whatever that may be. But it's the people in my life that make it worth it. So spending time, this time has taught me to spend time with the closest people to me. My sister, my twin sister had a baby during quarantine or during COVID [00:23:00] and for the first three months, I said, "No, I can't quarantine. I can't quarantine to see this baby. I can't work too important." And then I finally said, "No, family is too important." Like the people in my life are too important. and so I did, I quarantined and I said, I pat myself on the back. Only 10 days, but still quarantined and went to see that, that precious baby. And so I think that too is focusing on stuff that, that is the most important to you. Life is too short and I don't remember what the question was, but I know that I will keep reminding myself of this and I will have other people in my life. Remind me of this, if, and when we do get out of this with no, we will. When we do get out of bed and they'll remind me that look like your life is...your life is too important and it doesn't involve just working 24/7 or just being the most successful or just [00:24:00] getting the most done in the day. And so I'm thankful for that reminder.
Kenneth Brown Jr: August 23rd, you said that "you didn't think that you will be doing curbside service masked chats, or doing 300 meals and 80% of your diners not being able to pay" but you also said "for now the community is still joyously alive on the curb of 300 West Hargett Street. We're still here creating a little space to turn the world. As we know it on his head." Is this space different than what you thought in January and what do you hope that space looks like moving ahead?
Maggie Kane: Yeah, absolutely incredibly different...different, but still beautiful. So different. I always used to think different was bad, but different is beautiful. Do we miss having folks eating together at large community tables in the cafe and doing dishes together and [00:25:00] doing dishes together as one of those beautiful, joyous things because you are just chatting with that person next to you while you're just in soapy water. And so is it different? Yes, but it is still beautiful and having these conversations outside, the people we've been able to meet on the curb as they're waiting for their food. The folks I've seen standing in line together, having these conversations has been really, really wonderful and not what I expected. But yes, we do miss what was happening in January and what's to come? Yes, I think we will only, as I said, we are pivoting on the operations sides of things, but we are only keeping at the forefront of our mind is "How do we continue to build this community around good food?" And so if we keep our mission and what we are called to be doing right now in our organization, community, Then, yes I only have [00:26:00] hope for that, that we'll continue to build community at the cafe, even if it's curbside for the next year. I feel hopeful in that and I feel excited to meet new people, see new families coming in. If you ever need a pay-what-you-can cafe, you need it now, as people really are in that need and may only be able to pay a few dollars, but really need a place that's dignified and where they feel valued and cared for and loved. So yes, I feel very hopeful and excited to see what's to come.
Kenneth Brown Jr: Someone listening to this could be in a pivot of their own or have had multiple pivots over the past few months. and are just trying to hear how other people have pivoted and what that has looked like. What would you tell someone who might be listening going through just various pivots nonstop?
Maggie Kane: It is hard. [00:27:00] It is hard and that is valid and valuable, and you are allowed to have this sadness and all these feelings around it and let yourself be sad, let yourself feel, do it. While at the same time, no, you're going to get out of it and lean on your community, around you to help you get out of it. You are not on this journey alone. You are not in this community alone. You are not on an Island. There are a lot of folks that, that want to be present in your life. And, we are, I said this earlier, and I say this all the time we are not meant to do this alone and we are, we are here for each other. So find that person, find those people that you can, that can help just, just pull you up a little bit, right. I picture you floating in water and you just holding your [00:28:00] hand up and someone grabbing that hand and just holding you up. Let people do that because that is, that is what's going to get you through. This is when you know, you have that community to lean on and support you. And if you don't have anyone seriously, call me, I got you and I mean that wholeheartedly, I know what it's like to do it on my own and it is not, it's not what life's about. I really, I think that it is hard, let yourself feel, and then also let yourself feel that with other people because people want to be there for you.
Kenneth Brown Jr:Thank you, Maggie, for all your work.
Maggie Kane: Thanks for having me! I've loved getting to know you so far and love to be a part of this, and I'm thankful to be a part of this Raleigh community.
Kenneth Brown Jr: Yeah. How can people learn more about "A Place at The Table?"
Maggie Kane: Yes, follow us on social media. I'm trying to hit 18,000 followers this year. [00:29:00] Just kidding but kind of so, Instagram and social media it's tableraleigh, "A Place at The Table." Our website is tableraleigh.org. You can check us out there and come dine with us. We've got really good food. And we got a great team.
Kenneth Brown Jr: Awesome. Thanks so much. Maggie.
Maggie Kane: Thanks, Kenneth. Appreciate it.
(music rises: "Town Market" by Blue Dot Sessions)
Kenneth Brown Jr: You've been listening to Pivots, a podcast about navigating transitions, negotiating change, and reimagining our world. Pivots is a project of the AJ Fletcher Foundation produced and hosted by me. Kenneth Brown Jr. Our music is composed by Blue Dot Sessions. Sound effects from freesound.org. You can hear this episode and more by going to our show page at wwwdotpivotsajf.simplecast.com or wherever you listen to [00:30:00] podcasts.
See you next time.