Anthony Pisapia

If there’s a continum between soup kitchens and Chick-Fil-A (I’m picking Chick-Fil-A because I believe it’s been proven that a human being cannot survive on McDonalds) it would look something like this:

1. $0 but not reliable ———>
2. $54.80.

Chick-Fil-A costs 6.85 per person per meal. So it costs $54.80 per day to feed a family of four (two meals). Soup kitchens cost the consumer nothing and they cost the producer a negligible amount (so we’ll say it’s zero).

Now what else can we put on that continuum between zero and fifty four eighty?

What if we created a restaurant called “Rice and Beans”. All Rice and Beans serves is rice and beans, plus a vegetable, let’s pick corn. It goes well with rice and beans. So for $1.50 per meal you can get really good rice and beans (let’s say Bobby Flay donates his recipe) and a side of corn. If we put that on the soup kitchen/chic fil a continuum, would it have an impact? Would $12 per day to feed a family of 4 have an impact?

What if we put Ikea on that continuum? The meatball platter is 2.50. Now we have a $2.50 option. $20 per day for a family of four.

Now we have 4 data points on our continuum:

1. $0 for an unreliable option. Maybe you get a meal, maybe you don’t. You have to wait in line, sometimes for hours, to get your meal.
2. $12 per day for a readily available, square meal from a Bobby Flay recipe.
3. $20 per day for a meat option, a well rounded meal. Swedish, so your money doesn’t go to pay for wars. You can add ice cream for a $1. Don’t forget 99 cent breakfast.
4. $54.80 per day for Chic Fil A. Holy #$#% Chick-Fil-A is expensive.

Who is making an impact? Who on that continuum is changing the world? Who is ending the domestic hunger problem? Bobby Flay and Ikea. Blow your mind. Repeat after me. Bobby Flay and Ikea are ending world hunger.

Is there room for the soup kitchen? Of course. Is there room for Rice and Beans? There’s always room for rice and beans!!!!!

What’s it all mean?
You have to make the Rice and Beans model work. Maybe it’s a nonprofit with earned revenue and some donated revenue as well. Maybe it’s attached to a Wal Mart. Maybe it puts the right audience in the right place and so is valuable to someone who will help subsidize it or pay for it completely. Maybe it turns a profit. Maybe it’s a for-profit. There are ways. Your price point doesn’t have to be zero, because sometimes it’s just more important you’re there. The point is that these are questions worth answering because the answers allow you to solve huge problems.

Blow your mind. Repeat after me. Bobby Flay and Ikea are ending world hunger.