Opening Day at Karma Kitchen Chicago!

Posted by Anish Parikh on Jul 15, 2010
2530 reads  

After approximately 1 year of planning, preparing, and putting forth full efforts to bring Karma Kitchen to the great city of Chicago, the time has finally come!  On Sunday, July 11, 2010, Karma Kitchen Chicago opened its doors in collaboration with Klay Oven Restaurant located in the River North area of the Windy City. 

Prior to the launch, the Karma Kitchen team held a volunteer orientation at the restaurant.  The majority of the volunteers had never even experienced a Karma Kitchen before, but as the orientation came to an end, it was apparent that the synergies began to manifest themselves and that the Karma Kitchen concepts were coming to light.  Although a Karma Kitchen opening day is slightly different from the opening day for a baseball team, the team still had the same goal: to make sure we hit it out of the park for all of our guests!

On launch day, as the team met that morning, the energies were high and the excitement obvious.  One amazing thing after another was set in motion.  Seeing the amazing work product of the committees and what they were able to accomplish in just a few days was astounding.  Within the first 30 minutes of opening our doors, the entire restaurant was almost filled.  The hosts up front held their own with the swarm of guests coming in, some knowing about Karma Kitchen, others hearing about it for the first time.  The servers were running all over the place, but gracefully juggling all of their tables and helping to ensure that their guests were having a positive experience.  One gentleman commented about the professionalism of the team and the manner in which Karma Kitchen was run.  Others spoke to the underlying ideals surrounding the gift economy and the experiment in generosity.  Finally, some of the guests were surprised by the fact that the volunteers had their own professions and were doing this without any expectation of receiving something in return. 
 
During the first two hours of Karma Kitchen, the volunteers demonstrated that when everyone is volunteering for the same reason and when that reason stems from wanting to push their own generosity to the limit, amazing things can happen!  Special kudos to the Outreach Team who did such a great job of spreading the word about our launch.  Fearing that the World Cup would prevent people from coming in, the Outreach Team even turned this into a positive message:  "Come to Karma Kitchen and then go to Watch the World Cup!"  
 
Another kudos to the Ambiance Team who did an amazing job of transforming Klay Oven into Karma Kitchen.  Complete with the KK experience were menus, note pads on each table with a greeting message to the guests, laminated quote sheets on each table, signs, kindness table decorations, and more.  The restaurant looked great!  One of the volunteers put together a playlist of local Chicago artists to play during Karma Kitchen hours (one artist actually came as a guest and was thrilled to hear his music playing across the restaurant)!   
 
Though we learned a lot about the process and came out with a few things to change for next time, perhaps the most valuable lesson came in the form of a deeper understanding of ourselves and giving without expectation.  Although success is defined in many different ways, we know that our opening day was a success because we served over 100 guests, created a unique community experience, and approached the day wholeheartedly with a smile. 
 
The Karma Kitchen Chicago team would like to give a BIG shout-out to Karma Kitchen Berkeley and Karma Kitchen DC for their utmost support, assistance.  This all would not have been possible without them!  As one volunteer so eloquently put it, "We carried KK Berkeley and KK DC with us with every plate that we served."

Needless to say, the Karma Kitchen Chicago team truly hit it out of the park on opening day!

Posted by Anish Parikh | permalink | more 'KarmaKitchen'


Share A Comment

 Your Name: Email:


Comments (8)

  •  
    Somik wrote ...

    Brightens my day to read this!

  •  
    Nirali wrote ...

    The launch was AMAZING! Not only did everything go smoothly, but the team also did a great job in creating the "feeling" of KK. The ambiance was out of this world - with small notebooks at each table and cut-outs listing a kindness idea, to "bring the spirit of KK to the streets". I wish you could have all been there to experience it!

    Last but not least, we should give a HUGE congrats to Anish, Cherry, Gaurav, Shruthi who have been working on starting this up for over a year. A small group of folks really can bring the feeling of generosity to the community.

  •  
    Aya wrote ...

    I am so happy to hear that the Chicago launch went well. As Sala and I were facilitating Karma Kitchen in Washtington, DC on Sunday, we told the volunteers about Chicago and we all wished best of luck.

    Keep us posted with the development in Chicago. And I would love to visit you there one of these days!

  •  
    Krishna wrote ...

    Congrates Chicago team!. Great job........ and the wave of the generosity breezes the hot Chicago........ Now i don't hesitate to travel to Chicago in the mid summer....

    You guys are really creative...... We need to learn some new exciting creative ideas from you all.

  •  
    Aparna wrote ...

    Congrats all! This sounds like it was certainly a special opening day. Wishing you all many more beautiful KK's like this one.

    Also I love how with every new KK, new ideas sprout up. We love the idea of having little table tents on the community table and the local artists CD.

    Stay tuned for a DC KK road trip up to Chicago! :-)

  •  
    B2 wrote ...

    The winds of Great Lakes have picked up seeds of generosity in the windy city. :)

    Congrats on an AMAZING launch!

    In generosity ...

  •  
    Trishna wrote ...

    Truly humbled by the spirit and efforts of the KK Chicago Team -- you rock! Can't wait to see what inspiration unfolds as the journey continues and what hearts and minds are shifted to a life of generosity thanks to your gift offering to the Chicago community.

  •  
    Meghna wrote ...

    All i am doing right now is SMILEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE (ear to ear).. May we all grow together! Lots of love, prayers and blessings :)

Subscribe to Blog

imageRead via our RSS feed  

imageGet updates by email (coming soon!)  

Categories

Comments Most Popular

Feb 13: Noor A.F said: "It is warm and kind actions

Feb 13: Janel said: "Thank you, Raghu. Please bless my own shoes...

Feb 13: Ema said: "That is touching.I wish everyone of us could...

Feb 13: Deepak said: "Thank you very for sharing . An awesome human...

Feb 13: CJ Anderson said: "This weekend, I was privelged to be part of a...

Feb 13: Paul said: "Thank you, Raghu, for being such an...

Feb 12: Meghna said: "WOW!!!!!!!! What a DAY!!! :) Love all you...