Toast Awards $150,000 to Restaurant ‘Changemakers’ Fighting Local Food Insecurity

Toast  announced today the 15 grant recipients of the Toast Changemakers Program, an initiative celebrating restaurants across the United States who have built exemplary programs and initiatives to address food insecurity in their communities. Hailing from 13 states, each of the selected small businesses have developed unique and creative ways of supporting some of the most vulnerable members of their communities by helping to increase access to food—from pay-it-forward programs to community meal distribution, and more. 

The Toast Changemakers Program launched in September 2025 as part of Toast’s $5 million, five-year global commitment to combating food insecurity.  Open to any eligible restaurant or food service business in the United States addressing food insecurity and hunger relief, over 800 applications were submitted, and the grant recipients were selected through a rigorous review process in collaboration with program partners Hello Alice and Global Entrepreneurship Network.

“At Toast, we know that restaurants are pillars of their communities, often extending their hospitality to individuals and families in need. We are proud to support these exemplary leaders who are making great strides in the fight against hunger,” said Aman Narang, Toast CEO and Co-Founder. “We are excited to announce the inaugural cohort of Toast Changemakers and are honored to support their vital work.”

The funding provided by the Toast Changemakers Program will help grantees increase their reach, improve their community feeding program infrastructure, and engage more community partners, ultimately striving to make a greater and more sustainable impact.

“We’re beyond grateful to be named a recipient of this grant — it’s both an honor and a validation of why Lunch Heroes exists,” said Claire France and Samuel Soliz, owners of the sub sandwich shop Lunch Heroes, a Toast customer, in Chicago, IL. “We opened our doors to fight food insecurity, and this support helps us grow that mission even further; we’ll be able to reach more children and continue to build a sustainable system where every sandwich sold helps feed kids in need.”

Toast and Hello Alice will follow up with grant recipients in 6 months to gather updates on impact and use of funds. In addition to the Changemaker program grants, Toast is exploring additional meet up opportunities for grant recipients and ways to provide best practices to the other restaurants looking to do more to address food insecurity in their own communities. The program plans to kick off its second call for applications in late 2026.

To learn more about the Toast Changemakers program, and each of the selected grant recipients, visit our landing page.