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.
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.
donated and counting. read live from the same database your order is.
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. a dollar goes further through them than it ever could through us.
the cost of one meal, in real dollars. nothing added to your cart.
weekly meal prep, à la carte, or a one-off bakery run. nothing about your cart changes. same prices, same sunday delivery, same kitchen.
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.
that money goes to a minneapolis food shelf, where bulk buying turns every dollar into more meals than a restaurant plate could. no questions asked of recipients.
the counter up top reads from the same database your order does. no rounding up for marketing. whatever it shows is exact.
two carts, side by side. one with second plate, one without. same total. the donation comes out of our kitchen margin, not your checkout.
no forms, no proof, no lines to stand in. hungry is enough.
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.
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 in five seconds: ten meals ordered, the cost of one to a food shelf, nothing added to your cart.
ten meals ordered, we send a food shelf the cost of one. tallied monthly.
no surcharge, no round-up, no pay-it-forward pop-up.
minneapolis, the city our kitchen calls home.
we tally the month's orders and send it in one transfer.
three minneapolis food shelves and meal programs we're in conversation with. we'll lock one in before launch, with their real logo and a link to their work.
the twin cities' longest-running free-meals program. hot dinners served at dining sites across the metro, open to anyone who walks in.
fights child hunger by sending kids home with a discreet bag of food for the weekend through their schools.
a school-based weekend food program getting groceries to school-age kids who might otherwise go hungry once class lets out.
know an org we should be talking to instead? suggest a partner
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.
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.
