One of the world's best restaurants may not reopen – and they are making thousands of free meals daily for the homeless -Bloomberg
The future of Eleven Madison Park in New York, named the No. 1 restaurant in the world in 2017, is uncertain, says chef-owner Daniel Humm. “It will take millions of dollars to reopen. You have to bring back staff. I work with fancy equipment in a big space. I want to continue to cook with the most beautiful and precious ingredients in a creative way, but at the same time, it needs to make sense.”
The closing of the luxurious, 80-seat restaurant in mid-March was unexpected for the chef. Humm considered doing delivery, then rejected the idea. Instead, he decided he could start fighting the escalating issue of hunger in
New York through Rethink Food. As a
board member of the non-profit that uses
leftover food from restaurants and
corporate kitchens to provide meals for
people in need, he had the kitchen,
contacts to suppliers, and the ability to
raise money.In early April, Humm
transformed EMP into a commissary
kitchen and began producing almost
3,000 meals a day to feed hungry people
around the city. He calls it “the biggest
lightbulb moment.”
If EMP were to reopen, Humm says, he will continue to use his restaurant to feed the homeless and hungry, along with the very fortunate. “The infrastructure to end hunger needs to come out of the restaurants. Any way that EMP reopens—and it’s like a blank canvas right now, we would need to redefine what luxury means—it will also be an opportunity to continue to feed those in need.”