On Tuesday, the Antioch City Council approved a resolution waiving “city only” building permit fees up to $50k for Loaves and Fishes of Contra Costa County.
The fee waiver will assist Loaves and Fishes (LFCC) with their renovations at their property at 408 O Street in the City of Antioch. LFCC estimates that they will invest $1.74 million in improvements to their property, which will house their new 7,000 square foot central kitchen, and their Workforce Culinary Development Program. Upon completion of their work, LFCC estimates that they will be able to triple their daily meal production and expand onsite services to provide mobile showers, medical and mental health services, and housing resources.
The new Central Kitchen located in Antioch will allow them to triple its daily meal output from 3,000 to 9,000 meals, launch a Culinary Arts Training Program for East Contra Costa residents, and create space for a mobile resource hub that will provide critical services such as food, healthcare, housing navigation, and showers – all within the City of Antioch.
Jolene Lafayette, the executive director along with co-director Janette Kennedy spoke on the item during the presentation.
Lafayette shared that the current dining area on W 6th St. will be moving to the new facility upon build out. With their five dining rooms across the county from Walnut Creek to Oakley they serve 3,000 meals every day.
According to the presentation:
New Central Kitchen at 408 O Street will allow Loaves and Fishes to:
- Increase Meal Production – Day one, triple our daily meal production—without adding production staff—through improved layout, equipment, and storage capacity.
- Improve Operational Efficiency – The Antioch location is centrally positioned for efficient transportation to all dining rooms.
- Relocate Dining Room – relocate the W. Sixth Street Antioch Dining Room to this site, resulting in annual rent savings of $13,200, which can be redirected to food and services.
- Expand Community Impact and Sustainability – Increased capacity will allow us to serve more individuals and deepen partnerships with local organizations.
- Sustainable Partnerships – opportunities for fee-for-service meal partnerships, strengthening
- Partner with the City of Antioch – this kitchen will not only support food security across Contra Costa County but also help address homelessness in Antioch, where service options are currently limited.
- Hub for a Mobile Resource Program – offering weekly access to:
- Hot meals and groceries,
- Partner-provided shower units,
- Housing navigation and medical services.
- Warming/Cooling Center – during operating hours, the facility could also function as a safe refuge during extreme weather events.
- Volunteers – more volunteer opportunities for the City of Antioch.
- Workforce Development Program – expand our free 12-week culinary program bringing it to the City of Antioch
Mayor Pro Tem Don Freitas confirmed there were any issues with use permits and was “overjoyed” the former Kelly’s Kitchen would be used for this positive service in the community. He called the “return extraordinary” but cautioned others may come forward seeking fee waivers.
“I think it’s wonderful that people in other areas of our county are making substantial contributions because they understand the need that we have in the city of Antioch,” said Freitas. “I think this is wonderful to be able to approve and in a very small way understanding the fiscal difficulty in this community.”
Freitas said the community needed positive alternatives in the community when dealing with the unhoused, those starving or dealing with the cold. He called it long overdue.
Councilmember Louie Rocha shared he and Tamisha Torres-Walker toured the current operation and was impressed. What stood out to him was the tripling of the meals from 3,000 to 9,000 and more resources available. He added this could be an opportunity for career development in the future.
“I do think considering the needs of the community, the benefits that have been raised here, that I too support and look forward to expanding what we are doing,” said Rocha.
Torres-Walker was a supporter of bringing the resources directly and central to the people in need and seeing what could happen to the neighborhood.
“I am excited about having this in our community,” said Torres-Walker who noted there were a lot of old spaces that were underutilized. “I am excited this space will be revamped and workforce development, there is going to be resources and all of these needs being met in our community locally closest to our most vulnerable community. I definitely appreciate that. We definitely need more people to look at these underutilized historical spaces just sitting to kind of do what you all are doing.”
Mayor Ron Bernal asked Loaves and Fishes if they had asked any other agencies for money or waivers.
They explained Loaves and Fishes is part of the Food Security Collaborative which has five members – including Food Bank of Contra Costa-Solano, White Pony Express, St. Vincent De Paul, Meals on Wheels Diablo Region and then them.
“We collectively had been advocating with the county, the board of supervisors to receive some ARPA funds. They allocated $5 million to the food security collaborative and $1 million of that is going to Loaves and Fishes for the central kitchen,” explained Kenney. “We responded to all of the county supervisors individual impact grants that they were doing individually. They were all doing $1 million, for the five districts and so we applied to all of those. We were only successful in receiving funding from Supervisor Diane Burgis for district three.”
Bernal asked how much Burgis awarded, in which they responded $45,000 (see Burgis grant awards)
“I did tour your facility over in Pittsburg and kitchen and it was really amazing to just see in such a small space the volume and the quality and also seeing the fact that without having the storage, you have stuff that sits out and maybe doesn’t get fully utilized. So, I can definitely see the need here,” explained Bernal. “This neighborhood, I think it is a perfect spot for this. There’s a lot of other places you could have bought buildings in Antioch that maybe wouldn’t have worked as well.”
When asked if they receive all their funding and things go smoothly, how quickly the facility could open, they responded it could take 6-9 months—the goal is to be serving by Thanksgiving 2027.
The council agreed to wave the fees up to $50k in a 4-0 vote with councilmember Monica Wilson absent.
According to the staff report, since 1983, Loaves and Fishes has served over six million meals to many thousands of hungry people throughout Contra Costa County. LFCC has recruited thousands of volunteers and built an organization that has grown to serving over 514,639 meals and distributed over 260 tons of groceries each fiscal year.
