staplehouse: a purpose-driven restaurant

The story begins in 2009.

My friends, Jen and chef Ryan Hidinger, began a small weekly supper club, where a community of Atlanta-based food lovers emerged out of the dining room of their charming bungalow.  Relationships were formed and good food was devoured.

Over the course of the next few years, the community grew; the weekly suppers continued to be served alongside multiple events and family-style dinners and partnerships with farms and awards and gaining publicity and due acknowledgement... and the once ambitious dream of opening a restaurant, Staplehouse, was now becoming a reality.

On December 21st of 2012, everything changed.

Ryan, 35, was diagnosed with stage IV gallbladder cancer.  Staplehouse was put on permanent hold, as they set out to fight the bigger fight.

Obviously I am writing this with only 3 months between the time with which he was diagnosed and now.  But during those days and weeks that followed his diagnosis, so much happened and continues to happen.  In between making plans for recovery and going to treatment, an outpouring of love from the same community that they fed in the home has now created the support needed to help redefine and reinvent a new Staplehouse.

And here we are.

What was then a dream of a husband/wife-run restaurant is now a dream of a restaurant to serve an industry.  An excerpt from their PR brief,

"We’ll bring inventive, beautifully prepared seasonal food to the Atlanta community and put every bit of the restaurant’s profits after taxes into a non-profit that will support members of the culinary community who encounter unexpected financial circumstances.  Staplehouse will be the first-ever modern, farm-to-table restaurant, powered by award-winning chefs that will never make a single cent!"

With the help and vision of fellow chef Ryan Smith (currently Executive Chef at Empire State South) and Kara Hindinger (currently general manager at Abattoir), Ryan & Jen are still pursuing their original dreams, but now with the greater purpose of giving back to their community.

You have the opportunity to share a part in their dream as well.  This began with an Atlanta-based reach but has since grown...

>>> If you are inclined to contribute to their campaign, you can do so HERE.  (It is very easy to follow the prompts, and there you'll find more photos, more details about this project, and more information about these two wonderful people and the wonderful community in which they exist.) <<<

It all makes me very proud to be an Atlantan, but I'm equally proud to be a part of a national/international community on social media.  I get chills thinking about how love grows exponentially when we take the time to share the stories of others.  Not everyone can donate money, but just passing this on or linking to it would mean so much.  Thank you for your time and heart, your positive thoughts and prayers.

As their motto goes, "dare all and prevail"!

xoxo, Dera