Community kitchen to close Broadway location and open at Seventh and Paseo

KANSAS CITY, Missouri - Long lines outside the Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral downtown have become a familiar lunchtime sight. The community kitchen there has served many. But Friday was the last time for those lines, at least for a little while.

They're moving the operation to Seventh and Paseo.

The Kansas City Community Kitchen has two missions. First, the culinary cornerstones program gives under- and unemployed students a twelve week introduction to kitchen techniques.

"This is where they're learning their hands on technique in a fast paced large volume kitchen," said Jami Byers, director of operations for the kitchen.

Then the food they cook goes to the homeless and the working poor. They feed around 500 people in two hours every weekday at lunchtime. And that's why Friday is this kitchen's last day.

"We anticipate probably increasing those numbers here because… it's better located for the homeless population," said Jay Lehnertz, Episcopal Community Services president from inside the nearly completed new location.

A shiny new purpose-built facility will replace the church basement they’ve been cooking in. There will be two walk-in coolers, a separate area for washing dishes and plenty of storage; a chef’s dream.

"It's a fresh kitchen, new equipment,” said Anthon Herring, chef and kitchen manager.

A lot of work is involved.

"It's actually like opening a major restaurant," Lehnertz said.

But the new place will have more capacity and looks a lot less like...a church basement.

Lehnertz attributes the look of the new space to a lot of people including a volunteer interior designer and even extra effort from contractors.

"We have had broad volunteer participation in trying to make this center an attractive center, something that when people come into they feel good about being here," he said.

The students will spend two days a week in the new facility and the rest of the week they'll have more space at the old place. They hope to double the size of the culinary program, while feeding more people.

The kitchen plans to start serving meals at the new location in a couple of weeks, with a grand opening Sept. 16.

While there aren't any other kitchens in town with their capacity, they hope their clients can find places like the Salvation Army and City Union Mission for meals during the necessary gap in service.