July 31, 2024
(press release)
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It is estimated by the Houston Food Bank that nearly one million Houstonians struggle with food insecurity. In response to this growing issue, local Chick-fil-A® restaurants across Houston are stepping up their efforts to fight hunger in their local community.
1. Donating surplus food through Chick-fil-A Shared Table
Through the Chick-fil-A Shared Table® program, participating local Chick-fil-A Owner-Operators in Houston redirect surplus food from their Restaurants to nonprofits, soup kitchens and food banks to feed those in need. local Chick-fil-A Owner-Operators in Houston redirect surplus food from their Restaurants to nonprofits, soup kitchens and food banks to feed those in need.
To date, 85 Chick-fil-A restaurants in the Houston area have helped create over 961,200 meals through Chick-fil-A Shared Table donations to local organizations, with this number continuing to grow.
“The Chick-fil-A Shared Table program is just one way we strive to provide care to our local communities,” said Mike Magdaleno, local Owner-Operator of two Chick-fil-A restaurants in the Greater Houston area. “It is a simple, yet impactful way for our Restaurants to provide surplus food to local partners who can repurpose it into delicious, sustainable meals and fight hunger in our communities, one meal at a time.”
Mike’s Restaurants donate their extra food primarily to Hope Center Houston – and their partnership through the Chick-fil-A Shared Table program was recently spotlighted in one of Chick-fil-A's signature Red Couch TV commercials. (Watch the commercial here).
2. Hitting it out of the park with the Houston Astros and Astros Foundation
In addition to local Chick-fil-A Shared Table efforts, Chick-fil-A restaurants across the Greater Houston area have joined forces with the Astros Foundation to fight hunger through their “Bases Loaded” and “Baking a Difference” campaigns.
Through Bases Loaded, each time the bases are loaded at a Houston Astros baseball game, Chick-fil-A Houston pledges to donate 1,000 meals to fight hunger, which the Astros Foundation matches for a total of 2,000 meals per occurrence. These combined efforts resulted in over 44,000 meals donated in the Greater Houston community in 2023.
In addition, participating Chick-fil-A restaurants, in partnership with the Houston Astros, hold an annual “Baking a Difference” cookie fundraiser, raising enough funds to donate an additional 750,000 meals to the Houston Food Bank in 2023.
Outside of game days, Chick-fil-A continues to serve the Houston community in times of need. For example, local Chick-fil-A restaurants in Houston donated over 1,000 entrées as part of the Astros Hurricane Beryl Relief Distribution efforts, as well as volunteered time to pass out ice, water bottles, food and American Red Cross hurricane essentials to those in need in the Houston community.
3. Volunteering During Summer Service Days
Houston-area Chick-fil-A restaurants have also called on their local communities to join the fight against hunger. As a part of their annual Summer Service Days, local Owner-Operators, Team Members and Guests pack and sort meals at the Houston Food Bank throughout the month of July. In 2023, over 6,500 community volunteers – both from inside and outside of the restaurant – packaged more than 300,000 meals. These efforts continued in July 2024, with each volunteer effort resulting in 180 – 240 meals packed for those in need.
With the help of the local community and partners like the Astros Foundation, participating Houston-area Chick-fil-A restaurants have donated over 3 million meals since 2021 to help fight hunger and have plans to continue making strides in the coming years.
To learn more about how Chick-fil-A is giving back to local communities, visit .
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