The community-support model has worked for small farms and bakeries — now it's officially in the restaurant realm.
Chef/owner Yia Vang's Union Hmong Kitchen recently launched a Community Supported Restaurant Program that gives customers and businesses a way to invest in its future — and to help lift the restaurant during the slower winter season, a difficult time only compounded by the effects of the pandemic.
"These last few years have been hard, and we've been through it together," Vang said. "We're asking for you to join us in being part of our community as we keep going through it together."
Individuals can contribute $250, $500 or $1,000 and in return will receive a gift card for later use that exceeds the initial investment as well as one of the restaurant's gift sets (the lowest tier, for example, includes its Pantry Essentials Sampler). The program is available through March at the restaurant's location in Graze Provisions and Libations food hall (520 N. 4th St., Mpls., unionkitchenmn.com). A similar tiered system is available for businesses.
While Vang's approach is unique, it's not the first local restaurant to adopt the concept. In 2019, Tracy Singleton started a CSR for her restaurant, the Birchwood Cafe, during the particularly tough winter. The effort was well received by customers.
"We wanted to let people know what we were going through and invite them to be a part of it," she said at the time. (The Birchwood is temporarily closed.)
Union Hmong Kitchen has never been a restaurant that takes the road most traveled. Vang started as a pop-up on St. Paul's East Side several years ago, eventually moving on to a food truck residency at Sociable Cider Werks and finally into its permanent location inside Graze, offering catering and its "family feasts" along the way.
"I used to think that UHK was just about making Hmong food for people, but I was wrong, it's deeper than that," said Vang. "I look at the ancient history of our people to the current history of our people and one theme that constantly repeats itself in the last 7,000 years is perseverance. But that only happens when there's a community that comes together."
