Imagine a restaurant where there are no prices on the menu and where
the check reads $0.00 with only this footnote: "Your meal was a gift
from someone who came before you. We hope you will pay-it-forward
however you wish."
That's Good Karma Kitchen, a volunteer-driven experiment in generosity.
Run by volunteers, our meals are cooked and served with love, and
offered to the guest as a genuine gift. To complete the full circle of
giving and sustain this experiment, guests make contributions in the
spirit of pay-it-forward to those who will come after them. In keeping
this chain going, the generosity of both guests and volunteers helps to
create a future that moves from transaction to trust, from
self-oriented isolation to shared commitment, and from fear of scarcity
to celebration of abundance.
Who pays for my meal at Karma Kitchen?
At Karma Kitchen your meal has been paid for by someone who came
before you. Since it's a gift, you can't pay them back -- but you can
pay-it-forward by making a contribution that will allow future guests
to experience the same generosity. It is this circle of giving that
allows Karma Kitchen to keep going.
Who runs Karma Kitchen?
Karma Kitchen is run by a dynamic group of volunteers that
assembles at the restaurant each week to practice generosity through
the simple act of serving a meal.
How Can I Get Involved?
Volunteering at Karma Kitchen is a great way to get involved. Share your experience as a guest
with friends and family who you think would resonate with the concept
-- we'd love to serve them too! Ultimately Karma Kitchen is a platform
for expressing generosity.
What is the gift economy?
In a gift economy, goods and services are given without any strings
attached; it is an economic system where it is the circulation of the
gifts within the community that leads to increase -- increase in
connections, increase in relationship strength; in this context,
hoarding actually decreases wealth. At its core, gift-economy is a
shift from consumption to contribution, transaction to trust, scarcity
to abundance, and isolation to community.
