One World Café (Salt Lake City – Monday)

Everybody eats. This is the concept for the One World Café.



Chef Giovanni is the owner of the café located in Salt Lake City. His business model is popping up around the country with surprising success (Giovanni’s is considered to be a non-profit). The notion is simple, if you are hungry, you can eat. There is no discrimination. Did I also mention that it healthy? Shocker, I know.

The pay system works in a couple different of ways. The at-cost price for preparing your meal (based on what you choose and the portion size) is suggested at the register. Anything you pay over that is considered a donation to the non-profit. If you cannot afford a meal, you can work one hour in exchange for one. (There is always something to clean as my old boss used to say at Bing’s Café!) If you do not want to work or cannot for some reason, rice and beans are always free.

The meal is surprisingly healthy too. Giovanni believes in healthy, organic and sustainable food and food sourcing. For those of you up to date on the “Green Movement” you know that organic and sustainable do not always go hand in hand. Chef Giovanni knows his stuff though. He has a flexible menu that changes daily based on what is in season, what there is an abundance of and what is cheap at the local farmers markets and stores in the area.

One World encourages customers to only take what they can eat and composts the leftovers.


My lovely meal.

Giovanni’s story is interesting. He has only owned the One World Café for 2 years but it has been open for 8 years. He originally worked as the head chef at a different restaurant in town when the old owner called him up and asked if he could work a couple days a week redesigning the menu and revamping the café. Before he knew it, he was working there three days a week, then volunteering and finally owning the café. The most interesting part for me was that Giovanni was called out of the blue. He had no previous connections to One World or the owner. He says that he fully supports the cause of no person left behind in the face of hunger and was surprise how the One World Café found him.

I happen to believe in fate however.

For more information or questions you can go to Facebook: One World – Everybody Eats, Salt Lake City or email Giovanni directly at giovannimail@gmail.com.

One World is located at 41 South 300 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84111

Celebrate and Enjoy :)