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. To keep the chain of gifts alive, we invite you to pay it forward for those who dine after you.” This restaurant exists, and it’s called Karma Kitchen, a self-described “volunteer-driven experiment in generosity.”
Karma Kitchen was first opened in Berkeley, California in 2007 by volunteers inspired to seed the value of a gift economy. Karma Kitchen has served over 74,700 meals and generated over 60,300 volunteer hours in Berkeley alone, but ultimately, it’s impossible to measure all the ripples. Since its first iteration, Karma Kitchen has spread around the globe to 26 locations worldwide, sustained by the goodwill of any and all who want to uplift the power of generosity. Audrey Lin, a coordinator of Karma Kitchen in Berkeley, shares more about the restaurant’s inspiring principles, mission, and impact.
Karma Kitchen was started by a group of friends who were inspired to engage in small acts of kindness and grow in the spirit of generosity. The joy of giving became contagious, and they wondered what other forms it could take. In 2007, the first Karma Kitchen opened in Berkeley, California, as an experiment to seed the value of a “gift economy” – an economic system where goods and services are given with no strings attached.
Each time Karma Kitchen runs, we can’t predict what’s going to happen. There are best practices and general processes that volunteers around the world have used to implement it in their communities. But every time, a different group of volunteers comes together and a different group of diners walks through the door, so it is best not to have the model too standardized. Volunteers come with an intent to grow in the spirit of generosity – to spend a day spreading smiles. But there’s no formula for making someone smile or for being moved by gratitude. Inner transformation is something that can’t be copied and pasted, so every Karma Kitchen is different, and it’s a living experiment – everyone involved tunes into opportunities to engage in radical acts of generosity and sees what emerges.
To read more of The Gratefulness Team's article, please click here.
Comments (0)