Why You Need to Eat at FareStart Seattle

Want to make a difference in Seattle while simultaneously enjoying the city’s thriving culinary scene? Head to FareStart, a collection of six restaurants and cafés across the city.

Just a five minute walk down 7th Street from Hotel Theodore, FareStart is a James Beard Award-winning organization that offers homeless and underserved populations restaurant-industry job training and placement. Founded in 1988 by Seattle’s David Lee, it started out as a business that delivered meals to homeless shelters, slowly evolving into something even more progressive and transformational.

Today, FareStart’s half-dozen eateries have given thousands of Seattle’s most disadvantaged the opportunity to learn, grow, and support themselves. Here are some key details to know about this progressive non-profit.

Since 1992, FareStart has prepared 10 million meals for schools, healthcare centers, shelters and daycares. Using relationships with local farms as much as possible, the meals they serve are both sustainable, and delicious.

FareStart’s Food Recovery Program reduces waste in the food stream by collecting high quality, short shelf life inventory. Fresh produce and meats that might otherwise spoil are given new life, and go towards feeding people who don’t alway have access to such high quality ingredients.

FareStart’s mission is admirable, but it’s the quality of its menu that makes it truly stand out. Using fresh, seasonal ingredients, they provide an incredible dining experience at each of their locations. From autumn kale salads to spaghetti squash puttanesca, and chai panna cotta, your taste buds are in for a treat no matter which location you decide to try.

Photo by @_farestart on Instagram

FareStart Has Six Locations

FareStart Restaurant: 700 Virginia St; 206-267-7601

Maslow’s: 380 Boren Ave N; 206-588-4020

Community Table: 399 Fairview Ave N; 206-588-4030

Rise: Amazon Houdini North, 399 Fairview Ave N; 206-588-4031

Café @ PacTower: Pacific Tower, 1200 12th Ave S; 206-787-1596

Café @ 2100: 2100 24th Ave S; 206-407-2195