Most restaurants and cafes have a clear mission: serve good food and provide excellent customer service. However, some restaurant owners have a bigger vision for their day-to-day operations. They want to change the world, or at least their part of the neighborhood. If you want to use your restaurant money to give back to the community the next time you eat out, we have a few ideas for you.

The first thing you might notice when looking at the Taste Community Restaurant menu is that there are no prices listed. That’s because Taste is a restaurant where customers can consider three options: 1) pay what they can afford, 2) pay what they would pay for a comparable meal at another restaurant, or 3) pay more to cover the cost of other patrons’ meals. Taste Project, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, includes the restaurant and a tuition-free culinary training program that helps place graduates in jobs in food service establishments in Tarrant County.

At Taste Community Restaurant in Fort Worth’s Near Southside neighborhood, volunteers take orders and serve meals while students in the culinary training program prepare the food from a rotating seasonal menu. The Taste Project is gaining traction, recently receiving a federal grant and a mention from food influencer Keith Lee. The nonprofit will soon open a second location in Arlington that will include a much larger production kitchen for the culinary school and more seating for customers. To make a reservation, click here, or to volunteer, click here. 1200 S. Main St., Fort Worth; 200 N. Cooper St., Arlington

Jeremy Lowe, owner of Nearly Famous Burgers and Hot Dogs in West Arlington, is passionate about making burgers, but his true calling is on the wall between the front door and the cash registers, where rows of prepaid receipts hang that any customer can pull out and place on the counter to place their order for a free meal, no questions asked.

Lowe calls it his “Pay it Forward” wall. He says the idea came to him in a dream, and then two days later a stranger offered him a “significant donation” to feed people who were struggling financially. That donation brought Lowe’s dream to life, and now customers in the know are filling the wall with prepaid receipts by adding an extra meal to their bill when paying. 2502 Little Road, Arlington; 682-252-4016

Buying a latte at a La La Land Kind Cafe is an experience. The positive vibes and shouts of “I love you” from the baristas may lift your spirits more than the caffeine. Francois Reihani, founder of the Dallas-based chain, has stated that his vision is much bigger than serving hot beverages and pastries. Reihani wants to spread kindness in the world and the cafes serve as a base of operations for his mission.

Reihani began his career in hospitality while studying at SMU, opening a successful poke restaurant in Dallas’ West Village. But he wanted to do more than just serve food. He opened the first La La Land Kind Cafe in 2019 as “a place where kindness is a priority,” according to the website. Early in his entrepreneurial career, Reihani learned about the plight of young adults aging out of the foster care system and was shocked by the grim statistics.

He founded a foundation that provides job training, mentoring, housing assistance and psychological support through La La Land Kind Cafes. Today, La La Land Kind Cafe has 14 locations in Texas and California, with a Fort Worth location on Camp Bowie Boulevard set to open in the fall. 5733 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth

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