When a restaurant worker is diagnosed with a paralyzing genetic disorder
and goes from full-time employment to a hospital bed in under 72 hours,
there is no paid leave to fall back on. There is no corporate safety
net. What there is, in a growing number of cases, is CORE.
CORE, which stands for Children of Restaurant Employees, is a national nonprofit that provides financial grants to food and beverage service workers and their families during times of crisis. On a recent episode of Restaurant365’s Behind the Numbers podcast, hosts Marc Cohen and Rich Sweeney sat down with Jill Chapman, CORE’s Corporate Partnership Director, and Kristine Mills, a 30-year restaurant marketing veteran who now leads CORE’s marketing efforts, to talk through the numbers, the mission, and where the organization is headed in 2026.
CORE distributed over $600,000 in grants last year and served more than 1,000 individuals. Those grants move fast by design. From application to funding, recipients typically receive money within two weeks.
Speed matters because 74% of CORE’s grantees cite housing as their primary concern. Restaurant workers are disproportionately living paycheck to paycheck, and when a crisis hits, there is no income buffer. By the time many applicants reach CORE, they are already facing eviction.
Single parents make up 56% of CORE’s grantees in a typical year. In years with high volumes of natural disaster cases, that figure has reached as high as 72%, with the majority being single mothers.
All of this is managed by a staff of four and a half people.
CORE was founded 21 years ago after a group of beverage industry veterans at the National Restaurant Association Show started talking about the gap in support services for restaurant families. The idea that emerged that evening survived long enough to become an organization. In its early days, CORE operated under the Make-A-Wish Foundation, helping to create meaningful experiences for families in need. But feedback from those families pointed in a different direction: what they needed most was help with rent, bills, and day-to-day financial stability.
CORE responded by narrowing its focus to direct financial assistance and eventually spun out as its own independent organization. It ran as an all-volunteer operation until 2015, when the volume of need had grown enough to warrant hiring its first full-time employee.
Several organizations exist to support individual restaurant workers facing hardship. CORE’s differentiator is the family. Whether the crisis affects the employee, their spouse, or their child, CORE treats the entire household as the unit in need. As Chapman explained, if a child is sick, the whole family is affected. If a parent is the breadwinner and becomes unable to work, the financial impact doesn’t stop at that individual.
The grant process is also notable for what happens after an application is approved. Every recipient receives a personal phone call from a CORE committee member. For someone in the middle of a crisis, being heard matters as much as receiving the check. And for applicants who don’t qualify, CORE does not simply close the door. Staff members actively refer those individuals to other organizations that may be able to help.
Restaurant365 has been a silver partner with CORE for two years. In that time, the partnership has supported over 35 families and facilitated more than 10,000 meals for families in crisis. The relationship began when R365 co-founder Morgan Harris reached out to CORE’s website looking for ways to give back to the industry.
Chapman described the Restaurant365 partnership as a model she references when speaking to other corporate partners. The engagement operates on multiple levels: executives talk about CORE internally, employees across departments serve as ambassadors, there is a payroll deduction option for recurring donations, and the sales team carries back-of-house posters to client locations so restaurant employees know the resource exists. During natural disaster events, Restaurant365 proactively contacts its clients to make sure affected workers know how to apply for a CORE grant.
In one recent internal drive, Restaurant365 raised $10,000 for CORE.
Corporate partnerships are the backbone of CORE’s funding, but the organization has built out a varied model. Conferences are a significant part of the marketing budget, primarily because the work of explaining CORE to a restaurant operator or a potential partner is far more effective in person than over email. Jill Chapman attends many of these events, as does team member Madison Merian.
On the fundraising side, CORE works with product promotions, local activations, and statewide hospitality associations. One example from last year: Margaritaville, Tito’s, and Kerry Foods created a co-branded drink for the summer, with one dollar from each purchase going to CORE. During Dine Nashville in February, roughly 20 to 30 local restaurants participated in special dinners where a portion of proceeds went to the organization.
There is also a round-up model at point of sale, ambassador programs, and events like the Spare Some Love Bowling Tournament in Nashville, which held its first edition last year.
CORE is expanding its programming beyond crisis response. Two new initiatives launched this year represent a shift toward proactive support for low-income hospitality workers who may not be in the middle of an acute emergency but are still struggling.
Caring for the Classroom provides school supplies and back-to-school essentials for children of restaurant workers. Donations at specific dollar amounts are earmarked to ensure a child has what they need on the first day of school.
Groceries with Gratitude provides meals to families of four to six from Thanksgiving through Christmas. The program launched last year, was immediately popular, and is returning in 2026 with an earlier start to build more momentum.
Neither program requires a qualifying crisis event. The goal is to reach hospitality workers experiencing food insecurity or financial stress outside of an emergency situation.
CORE is also launching CORE MSO in 2026, a new division that allows restaurant companies to stand up their own internal employee relief grant programs. CORE handles the administration, the vetting process, and the reporting. The company funds the grants and sets the qualifying criteria. CORE has been running similar programs for over 21 years and can absorb this work without requiring its partners to hire additional staff. Several companies are already running the program, and CORE is projecting it could reach five participants by the end of the year.
Chapman offered a direct argument for restaurant operators and industry companies considering a CORE partnership: 75% of consumers say they prefer to support businesses that give back to their communities. And 90% of brands that engage in community-focused giving report that the activity has been beneficial to them as a company.
There is also an employee retention angle. The current workforce, particularly younger workers, consistently reports that the values and community impact of their employer factor into job satisfaction. Supporting a nonprofit with a clear connection to the industry is one visible way to signal those values internally.
Ways to participate include:
Follow CORE on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook at @coregives, and visit coregives.org for all program details.
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