Restaurant nonprofit the Giving Kitchen names new executive director

The Giving Kitchen has a new executive director. The nonprofit, which supports Atlanta restaurant workers facing unanticipated crises, has hired Bryan Schroeder to helm operations.

Schroeder comes to the Giving Kitchen after a decade working for the Georgia Conservancy, a nonprofit focused on protecting and conserving the state’s natural resources. Most recently, he served as the organization’s senior director of development and marketing.

Stephanie Harvey Galer served as the executive director of the Giving Kitchen for the last three years. She resigned from the post in March. / Photo by Stacey Bode

Schroeder replaces Stephanie Galer, who served as executive director for the Giving Kitchen for the last three years. Galer announced her resignation in February.

“Providing a safety net for the men and women who quite literally serve the metro-Atlanta area means a great deal to me,” Schroeder said. He called the Giving Kitchen, now in its fourth year, a “trailblazer in the industry nationwide” for its work in serving restaurant employees and their families.

In his new position, Schroeder will oversee a staff of six and will put into action the three-year strategic plan recently devised by the Giving Kitchen’s 12-member board.

The Giving Kitchen's for-profit subsidiary is  Staplehouse, a restaurant located in the Old Fourth Ward . All of Staplehouse's net profits are channeled back to its nonprofit parent. Another stream of financial support comes through fundraisers.  Giving Kitchen's largest annual fundraiser, Team Hidi , netted more than $400,000 this year. Among upcoming fundraisers is the Waiters' Race Atlanta that will see waiters and waitresses carrying trays loaded with glasses and bottles running a course around The Shops Buckhead on July 14.