Frontline Foods (FLF) launched in March 2020 as a grassroots, volunteer-led response to the growing Covid pandemic — it’s purpose being to provide food to frontline workers from local restaurants. In a few short months, FLF grew to have 50+ chapters across the country, 500+ volunteers, and over $10 million of donated funds for local restaurant partners. FLF’s efforts aligned with World Central Kitchen’s (WCK) pandemic relief response — specifically the Restaurants for the People program. It was designed to keep restaurants up and running (along with their teams and purveyors), and to ensure those risking their health to care for their communities got fresh, nourishing meals. Recognizing this strong alignment, WCK partnered with FLF to scale nationally as a fiscal sponsor.
FLF’s program and volunteers became officially integrated into José Andrés' World Central Kitchen in August 2020 and continue to work together to empower communities to organize locally in response to the coronavirus pandemic and other future crises.