Ask Chefs Anything Campaign Comes to Houston

Foodie Houstonians who have burning questions for their favorite chef now have an opportunity to bid on 30-minutes of one-on-one time with culinary superstars like Chris Shepherd, Hugo Ortega, Christine Ha and Monica Pope – via Zoom, of course.

The bidding is happening this week through #AskChefsAnything, a national campaign that seeks to raise funds for immigrant workers in the food and beverage industry, one of the sectors most impacted by the novel coronavirus. The national campaign is the brainchild of Gaeleen Quinn, a New Yorker with more than 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry. When Gaeleen realized the impact that the novel coronavirus was having on the immigrant workforce in particular, she knew she wanted to help. 

“When I started to see that all of my chef friends and restaurateurs were laying off their entire staff, I quickly got worried about the immigrant population, which is really the backbone of our industry nationwide,” says Gaeleen. “The immigrant population doesn’t have savings. They send everything back to their home countries.” 

According to a 2017 report from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, 37 percent of small restaurant owners and 22 percent of foodservice workers are foreign born in the United States, even though immigrants only make up 13.5 percent of the U.S. population. In speaking with immigrant families in New York, Gaeleen realized many of these families were relying on soup kitchens and other help to feed themselves.   

To help this demographic of workers, Gaeleen came up with the idea of connecting consumers to chefs, who, in New York, had largely been relegated to their homes as New York was emerging as our nation’s initial hotspot for the virus. Gaeleen worked with her friend Anna Polonsky to launch #AskChefsAnything, starting locally in New York City back in April. 

Quickly, organizations and chefs from across the country heard about the campaign and began reaching out to Gaeleen, wanting to bring the initiative to their own cities. Gaeleen and her team said yes, bringing the campaign to nine different cities including LA, San Francisco and Philadelphia. In each city, #AskChefsAnything partnered with a local organization who helped identify the immigrant population in need and distributed the proceeds to the community. 

Houston is the latest city to come onboard, participating in the program this week. Bidding is open online today through July 26 at 8 p.m., with bidding starting at $100. It was local public relations firm Public Content who initially sought to bring the auction to Houston, a city that’s gaining a reputation as an important food hub. 

All proceeds from Houston’s auction will be dispersed to immigrant workers by the local nonprofit Southern Smoke Foundation, founded in 2015 by Chef Chris Shepherd.  

“It’s an amazing thing,” Chris says of #AskChefsAnything. “It’s really serving a community that doesn’t really get looked at, and that needs to change. In this crisis, everyone is in crisis.”

Southern Smoke Foundation has already been an important source of support for many Houston restaurant workers impacted by Covid-19. Through its Emergency Relief Fund, Southern Smoke Foundation has distributed more than $2.8 million to over 1,500 people. Chris says he is happy to be a part of #AskChefsAnything, raising more funds to help Houston workers. 

Other Houston participants include Chris Consentino (Rosalie Italian Soul), Jonny Rhodes (Indigo) and Kiran Verma (Kiran’s).

"People have been bidding which is such a nice thing," Chef Kiran said a few hours after the auction opened. "I was so excited to participate [in #AskChefsAnything] because I feel that the employees work so hard and they are so loyal. They have their families to support and they also have their families to support back home - just like we did when we came to this counry many years back." 

See the complete list of participating chefs here.