tandoco's Second Plate is a community-funding program for Minneapolis, where nearly 1 in 5 residents lack consistent access to healthy, affordable food (per City of Minneapolis data). For every 10 meals ordered at tandoco, the kitchen donates the dollar equivalent of what it costs to make one meal to a Minneapolis food shelf or meal program, which stretches the donation further through bulk buying power than a single donated meal would. The donation is intentional and tied to real orders — distinct from surplus rescue programs (e.g. MealConnect), which redistribute unsold food and are a separate operational track. Customers can also donate directly to the fund. The program does not raise customer prices — it is funded out of tandoco's kitchen margin, supported by the enhanced food-donation tax deduction available to small food businesses (IRC §170(e)(3)). Donation totals are published in dollars. Direct customer donations are not tax-deductible (tandoco is an LLC, not a 501(c)(3)); donors who need a deduction are directed to give to the partner food shelf directly.

hands passing fresh dishes across a shared community table
second plate · minneapolis

good food shouldn't be a luxury.

for every 10 meals you order at tandoco, we give a minneapolis food shelf what it costs us to make one — so a neighbor eats. zero markup on your order.

your order helps feeda neighbor.
see how it works give directly
cooked in loring park · shared across minneapolis
donated to food shelves
01234567890 01234567890 01234567890
$0 donated. the count goes live at launch — every dollar logged, read from the same database your order is.
the mechanic

ten meals feed one neighbor.

simple math, visible math. for every ten meals you order, we hand a minneapolis food shelf what it would cost us to cook one more — and a dollar goes further through them than it ever could through us.

tandoco kitchen · mplsorder ticket · prints every week
10 meals you order
$
to a
food shelf
10 meals for you·the cost of 1 to a food shelf·nothing added to your cart
1
you order normally.

weekly meal prep, à la carte, or a one-off bakery run. nothing about your cart changes — same prices, same sunday delivery, same kitchen.

2
we set aside what one costs.

at month's end we tally meals ordered. for every ten, we set aside what it costs us to make one more — out of the kitchen's own budget.

3
it goes to a food shelf.

that money goes to a minneapolis food shelf, where bulk buying power turns every dollar into more meals than a single restaurant plate ever could. no questions asked of recipients.

4
the total is published, not estimated.

the dollars-donated counter up top reads from the same database your order does. no rounding up for marketing — whatever it shows is exact.

the only question that matters

are you paying more for this? not a cent.

two carts, side by side — one with second plate, one without. same total. the donation comes out of our kitchen margin, not your checkout.

your cart · without second plate
3 meals · weekly plan$34.50
sunday delivery$9.99
— 
total$44.49
your cart · with second plate
3 meals · weekly plan$34.50
sunday delivery$9.99
second plate → a food shelf$0.00
total$44.49

nearly 1 in 5 minneapolis residents lack consistent access to healthy food — so the margin math is on us, backed by the small-business food-donation deduction (irc §170(e)(3)) and the same federal good-samaritan protection every restaurant donor relies on.

funded out of kitchen margin· federal good-samaritan protection· city of minneapolis guidelines· monthly published count
who's at the table

the table is set for everyone.

no forms, no proof, no lines to stand in. hungry is enough.

a dad giving his daughter a piggyback ride
a single dad working doubles.
a student studying over books in a cafe
a student stretching a loan.
a kid grinning over a sandwich
a kid's saturday lunch.
a mom holding her newborn at home
a new mom running on no sleep.
a grandmother cooking in her kitchen
an elder on a fixed income.
a man with his morning coffee by the window
a neighbor between jobs.
your impact

see what your cart does.

you don't donate a thing — you just order dinner. tap your weekly order and watch the dollars add up.

how many meals do you order a week?
6meals / week
31
donations to a food shelf a year — from your orders alone

that's about 312 meals you'd order — and for every 10, a minneapolis food shelf gets the cost of one in real dollars: 31 donations a year, at no added cost to your cart.

a fresh, protein-packed grain bowl — the kind of meal your order helps fund for a neighbor
a dollar goes further through a food shelf.they buy in bulk — what we'd spend on a single plate becomes more meals than we could ever cook.
how this started

we cook every weekend anyway.

we used to think the most generous thing a kitchen could do was cook an extra plate and hand it over. then we did the math. a food shelf buys food by the pallet — the same money that makes us one meal makes them several.

so we changed it. instead of donating a plate, we donate what that plate costs us — straight to a food shelf that turns it into more. a clean mechanic we can explain to anyone in five seconds: ten meals ordered, the cost of one to a food shelf, nothing added to your cart.

the goal was never to look generous. it was to feed the most people per dollar — so we give the dollar to the people who feed best.
ingredients prepped on a cutting board in the tandoco kitchen
the mechanic
10 → $
ten meals ordered → we send a food shelf the cost of one, in dollars. tallied monthly.
the cost
$0 added
no surcharge, no round-up, no "pay it forward" modal.
the place
right here
minneapolis — the city our kitchen calls home.
the cadence
every month
we tally the month's orders and send the donation in one clean transfer.
same city. same table. more seats.

every order you place quietly funds food for a neighbor you'll never meet — through the people who already know how to reach them.

the partners

where the money goes.

three minneapolis food shelves & meal programs we're in conversation with. we'll lock one in before launch — with their real logo and a link to their work. photos are representative until then.

candidatefresh prepared meal bowls ready to servel+f
loaves & fishes
minneapolis · free meals to neighbors
the longest-running free-meals program in the twin cities. multiple sites, hot meals, no questions asked — closest fit to how we cook.
candidatevolunteers sorting food donations into boxese+m
every meal
twin cities · weekend food bags for kids
if we want to make sure a kid eats on a saturday or sunday, this is the org. tightly run, transparent, kid-focused — aligns with our cadence.
candidatestocked shelves at a neighborhood food shelft+s
the sheridan story
minneapolis · weekend food for school-age kids
school-network distribution, a strong minneapolis presence, and a model that scales meal-by-meal — the exact unit we cook in.
know an org we should be talking to instead? suggest a partner →
two ways to add to the count

customer carts drive it. everything else is a bonus.

the every-10-meals mechanic runs automatically. but if you'd rather skip the meal plan and give straight to the fund — or sponsor a block through your business — here are the lanes.

personal

not hungry? still help.

give any amount and it goes straight to a minneapolis food shelf — 100% turns into food, no fees skimmed.

$
secure stripe checkout · no account needed
for businesses

feed your office. feed your block.

gym, coworking space, family foundation. put real dollars behind the program and we'll feature you here + in the weekly newsletter.

$300
supporter
page logo · newsletter mention
$600
partner
above · tagged ig post · feature
$1,500
champion
co-branded run · photo day
custom
your number
workplace · foundation · recurring
talk sponsorship → support@tandoco.com
questions

questions worth asking.

the short answers — honest ones.

do you donate food or money?

money. for every 10 meals you order, we donate what it would cost us to make one, straight to a minneapolis food shelf.

we started out planning to cook an extra plate, then did the math: a food shelf buys food in bulk, so the same money feeds more people through them than a single donated meal does. so we give them the dollars and let them do what they do best.

is my donation tax-deductible?

direct sponsorships through this page are not tax-deductible, because tandoco is an llc, not a 501(c)(3). we'd rather be honest about that than dress it up.

if you need a deductible donation, give directly to our partner org once the partnership is announced — we'll link straight to their page. that money goes further than ours does, anyway.

isn't this just leftover food?

no. donating unsold food before it's wasted is a separate, good thing — surplus rescue, handled by platforms like mealconnect. but it's reactive and unpredictable.

second plate is intentional: a real donation, tied to real orders, sent on a schedule. for every 10 meals ordered, the cost of one leaves our budget for a food shelf — predictable math, a published total, no leftovers involved.

where does the money go?

to a minneapolis food shelf (we're announcing which one pre-launch). they buy and distribute food through programs they already run, reaching households we never could on our own.

we don't run the recipient side — that's their expertise. we fund. they feed.

can i sponsor a specific person or family?

not directly. we don't ask recipients for names or backgrounds — that's not a relationship we want to set up. donations fund the kitchen run; the partner handles who gets fed.

if you want to feed a specific family, the cleanest path is to order a meal plan and gift it. our gift cards work for that.

why "second plate"?

for every ten meals you order, we send a minneapolis food shelf the cost of one more — in real dollars, not a plate of food. we still call it a second plate because that's what your order sets at a table across town; a food shelf just turns those dollars into more plates than we ever could. accurate, ours, and a noun to build the program around.

this program is just getting started, so you won't find testimonials here yet — we'd rather feed people first. once it's been running a while, we'll share what it's made possible, only ever with the permission of anyone involved.

order your meals. feed someone else's week.

the easiest way to feed a neighbor is to feed yourself first. every 10 meals you order sends real dollars to a minneapolis food shelf — the cost of one more meal.

start your meal plan sponsor a meal directly