Today, Audible, the Newark, NJ-based producer and provider of spoken-word entertainment and audiobooks, announced a $1M donation to World Central Kitchen to help expand its efforts in Newark and launch Newark Working Kitchens – providing meals for individuals in need and coordinating with Newark restaurants to reopen and help workers earn steady paychecks.
In 2017, Audible launched the Lunch Out Wednesday (LOW) program to subsidize hundreds of employees’ meals each week through the distribution of $15 voucher cards. In early March, Mayor Ras J. Baraka joined Audible’s founder and chairman, Don Katz, to celebrate the 30,000th Lunch Out Wednesday visit.
Audible is working very closely with global restaurateur Chef Marcus Samuelsson, as his Newark restaurant, Marcus B&P, serves as the initial production and food distribution site for WCK. Audible will seed the Newark Working Kitchens initiative with a $1M commitment, providing 100,000 meals at $10 each (paid directly to participating restaurants). They are also launching a mentorship program with Newark Venture Partners (NVP) and Invest Newark to provide restaurant owners and other small businesses free guidance on how best to navigate available federal, state and local funding in response to Covid-19.
Restaurants are the nation’s second-largest private employer, sustaining 15.6M American jobs with annual sales of $889B. Today the industry is projecting job losses of between 5 and 7M in the next three months as sales decline by an estimated $225B. Working directly with Newark restaurants and with WCK will offer relief to these local businesses during this difficult time and will go a long way to keep Newark’s vital restaurant food distribution networks intact. Audible, Chef Samuelsson and WCK view this initiative as a call to action for like-minded companies to do their part in supporting the neediest people in their communities with increasingly critical meals and work opportunities.
