Giving Kitchen, Chef Michael Ganley regional finalists in Food Fanatics Awards

Two metro Atlanta culinary players were recently honored as regional finalists in the first Food Fanatics Awards , given by US Foods to honor those passionate about --and doing new things within -- the food industry.

Stephanie Harvey Galer is the executive director of The Giving Kitchen.

Atlanta's The Giving Kitchen and Chef Michael Ganley of Payne-Corley House were both chosen as finalists out of more than 1,000 entries.

Named a finalist in the "Big Heart" category, The Giving Kitchen , an Atlanta-based non-profit, was recognized for its efforts to provide emergency assistance grants to Atlanta-area restaurant workers facing unanticipated hardship.

  The organization recently set up a fund for employees of Here to Serve restaurants, who were laid off without warning in October after the group's restaurants closed.

Staplehouse, which opened in Old Fourth Ward at the end of September with Chef Ryan Smith at the helm , serves as a for-profit subsidiary of the Giving Kitchen. Both The Giving Kitchen and Staplehouse were conceived of by Ryan and Jen Hidinger after Ryan was diagnosed with cancer in 2012. He passed away in 2014.

Ganley, who was named a finalist in the "Hero" category, has been the executive chef of Payne-Corley House in Duluth since 2004 and was recognized for being an advocate for the restaurant industry and being the catalyst for improvements to the Gwinnett County Board of Health code in 2016.