Located just beyond the southern edge of the University of Cincinnati (UC) campus, Good Plates Eatery is a family-owned business that offers a menu of homestyle cooking for the Clifton community. For the fourth year in a row, the small business is serving up hot meals and a sense of community this Thanksgiving and Christmas as a part of its annual holiday meal program.
Owners Andrew and Jamie Schlanser offered holiday meals to the community for Thanksgiving on Wednesday, Nov. 22 at their restaurant’s Clifton Heights location. The Schlansers invited anyone in need to Good Plates for a to-go holiday meal free of charge, without any questions or reasons.
The family-owned restaurant established the tradition of handing out free meals for Thanksgiving and Christmas back in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. While many local restaurants were closing down, Good Plates was just opening its doors to the public. It opened in August 2020. They began serving free holiday meals a few months later for Thanksgiving of the same year.
It was a kindness that started out small. Andrew Schlanser estimates that he gave away 30 meals that first Thanksgiving Day.
“We were in the middle of the pandemic and there were so many kids that couldn't go home, people that couldn't go visit families, people that just needed meals, people that were just down and just needed it,” Schlanser explained. “So we said, ‘If you need a meal, we'll have one for you.’”
But then, a post about the free meals went viral on social media, Schlanser says. After that first media attention, he said they got “inundated with phone calls” from people looking to donate and help in any way they could.
Word spread quickly through social media platforms and the attention that Good Plates received through the press. The packaged meal program quickly grew. Just one year later in 2021, the restaurant served 600 hot meals for anyone in need.
This year, The Schlansers and their team prepared 2,000 meals to hand out for Thanksgiving and are planning to make the same volume of food for Christmas. The to-go meals include roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans and cornbread that the Schlansers work hard to serve hot.
Through the program's growth, the Schlansers’ goal has not changed: To get meals out as needed.
Preparing 2,000 meals requires a long and well-organized process at Good Plates. For the cooking itself, the Schlansers and their team were in the kitchen at around 5 a.m. to prepare everything for the restaurant’s opening at noon. They will cook throughout the whole day to ensure that all meals are served hot and fresh.
“We serve everything warm,” Schlanser said. “I basically cook and prepare everything throughout the day.”
Of course, the meal handout program also relies on many volunteers, who are responsible for packing up the meal boxes and distributing them to whoever visits the restaurant. Former UC Student Body President April Gable is one of those volunteers this year. She graduated from UC in the spring and returned to Cincinnati early for a work trip so that she could help out on Wednesday.
“Good Plates has been a family to me for the past three years since they opened on campus,” Gable said. “I recently graduated in April, and it's just a really special moment that I want to make sure I was here for.”
Gable was excited to see how many people visited the restaurant for the event and to help support the event. “I absolutely love this family, and so anywhere I can help—whether it's putting green beans in the containers, putting buns together or welcoming in people—I am there a catch-all person,” she explained.
Jordan Brooks, president of the JoBro Foundation, was also at Good Plates on Wednesday morning. The JoBro Foundation is based in Cincinnati and provides food, basic necessities and transitional services for individuals experiencing homelessness. Brooks’ organization donated food and volunteer support to make the holiday meals possible this year.
“We're geared towards the homeless and those who are underserved in the community. So we're just coming alongside Good Plates Eatery to help do this amazing thing that they do every year,” Brooks said. “I believe in collaboration, and I feel like instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, let's team up and do something together because we have a greater outreach and a greater impact.”
Good Plates partners with multiple organizations in Cincinnati and beyond to make the meals both bountiful and feasible including US Foods, Freestore Foodbank and Coalition for Community Safety. The meal was also made possible because of individuals who have donated to the efforts via a check or Venmo to buy more food, according to the Schlansers. This is in addition to a multitude of other organizations that help make the holiday meal program a success.
“When we first started, I was like ‘I don't want to ask people to do things.’ This isn't like a gift to a charity; This is something we want to do. But it's grown so much, we would never be able to reach all these people without everyone that helps,” Schlanser said.
This year, the Schlansers even received international support from an organization in London. “It's wild,” Andrew said. “This went from wanting to help people in the Clifton Heights community and UC to [something] international.”
Besides giving individuals a free meal, Good Plates also opened up their restaurant’s dining room for customers to have a warm place to eat. They gave out cookies and hot beverages in the restaurant alongside items such as blankets to give away.
For Christmas this year, Good Plates Eatery will be serving another 2,000 meals to those in need. They will open their doors on Dec. 24 at noon and give out the to-go boxes until they run out. In addition to the food, Good Plates will be giving out coats, scarves, gloves and hygiene products.
Schlanser’s message to the community is simple this holiday season: Come on in. “No matter the reason you need that meal, we have them here for that reason.”