Nashville, TN (July 14, 2020) – On Thursday, July 16, through Sunday, July 19, chefs from across Nashville will band together for #AskChefsAnything, an online auction to raise awareness and funds for the immigrant workforce in restaurants, many of whom have been severely impacted by the industry's current crisis. To date, #AskChefsAnything has provided hundreds of thousands of meals across the country with successful auctions in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and more.
Gaeleen Quinn, founder of Q&A Hospitality Consulting and the Bogota Food & Wine Festival, pulled together the initiative with the help of strategy and design consultancy Polonsky & Friends as a way to give back to the immigrant workforce that is crucial to Nashville's many restaurants. In Nashville alone, immigrants comprise more than 10% of the food service industry. These hard-working individuals (who work the longest hours and are often doing the hardest tasks) have suffered with lack of federal benefits and unemployment, struggling to put food on their plates and fearing to get sick without any support from the government.
Chefs and industry tastemakers from Tennessee, including celebrity chef Carla Hall as well as locally based chefs and restaurateurs Maneet Chauhan, Sean Brock, Julia Sullivan, Lisa Donovan, Philip Krajeck, Tandy Wilson, Josh Habiger and more, will each auction off 30 minutes of their time to share their favorite recipes, cooking tips or just have a casual conversation with winners. The funds raised will go directly to a restaurant food distributor who will supply the groceries at a highly discounted rate and enable the organization to feed hundreds of vulnerable households living in Nashville.
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About #AskChefsAnything: The idea for #AskChefsAnything spawned from two New York startup founders and food industry veterans Gaeleen Quinn and Anna Polonsky who wanted to help the community most impacted by the COVID crisis within the restaurant world, the immigrant workers. Even though immigrant workforce contributes billions annually in state and local taxes, many of them were not included in the federal relief packages and cannot claim unemployment benefits. They cannot find another job locally because their visas depend on a single employer; they cannot travel to their countries because borders are closed and they may not be able to come back. With that in mind, Quinn and Polonsky pulled together to fund the initiative that enlisted the support of some of the country’s greatest chefs to create an experience that is personal and distinctive. 100% of funds raised from the auctions go directly to the communities they work with in each city, in the form of fresh produce and groceries aiding to feed countless families and households.