Maggie Kane
Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Maggie Kane and I am the Executive Director and Founder of A Place at the Table, which is a non-profit, pay what you want, cafe. I am local to North Carolina and an NC State Alumni. My passion is loving people and bringing community together.
What did it take / how did you get started?
A Place at the Table took four years to get off the ground. If you asked me if it was hard, heck yes, but we did it. Four years of relationship building and this thing called 'friend-raising' versus fundraising. People began to trust us and come together to make it happen!
What does the future look like for you and your hustle?
I am not really sure what comes next. I know Founders Syndrome is very real and something i've been monitoring in myself closely. With A Place at the Table I am going to need other leadership than myself. I'll find another leader to make A Place at the Table even better than it is under my leadership. I think over the next couple years as I begin to transition out of A Place at the Table, I would love to see more pay what you can restaurants. There are over 1 million restaurants and only 61 like A Place at the Table. I also want to get back into direct care work involving homelessness and poverty.
What drives / motivates you?
People. I love the stories of the incredible people I get to meet everyday. Ya'll are my inspiration.
What advice would you give someone interested in doing what you do?
All goes back to people. Lean on people. People want to help it is just a matter of reaching out. We are not good at everything and shouldn’t be. We need to give people ways to help and tell them how to help.
I also think good things take time. Patience is key. If A Place of the Table opened over night in six months then we wouldn’t be here. Realizing good things take time because there are so many factors that go into it.
Find something you’re passionate about and the world will too. It doesn't mean go start a nonprofit or business, but find that passion and invest time in it.
What has been the hardest part of the hustle?
Proving to people that this could be a place that will be different than a soup kitchen and proving that this was really a need in the community was by far the hardest.
What are a few resources that you'd recommend?
Break Your Own Rules, Start with Why, Becoming, Measure what Matters, How I built this by Guy Raz, Armchair Expert, and Criminal (need a change every now and then)
The STATS
Side or full-time hustle?
Full-time.
List the founders
Just me
How many hours a week do you work on this hustle?
80
# of Employees?
11 employees (half part time and half full-time)
When did you start?
Launched in 2014 and opened in 2018
How much did it cost to launch?
We had to raise $400k to do construction and build what we now have space wise
What were your funding methods and ballpark amount raised?
Fundraising, which came from Individual donors, corporate partners, some faith communities. Now that we’re open, 60% of annual budget comes through cafe revenue. 40% comes from fundraising piece.
Annual Revenue?
$700k
Project Revenue?
$1M