The Food Studio at Pittsburgh Yards is the Urban Oak Initiatives' bold new home for community wellness, plant-based innovation, and food entrepreneurship. A space where local cooks, creators, and families can learn, launch, and lead. It’s designed to serve as the nation’s first community-focused, plant-based incubator, giving our neighborhoods the tools and support they need to reclaim health, culture, and economic power through food.

And today, we’re proud to share that construction of The Food Studio is now 100% funded made possible by the incredible support of our partners and community! Your belief in this vision is turning a dream into a reality that will transform lives for generations.

Now, we’re raising funds for the equipment, tools, and resources needed to expand our game-changing Foodpreneur (Food + Entrepreneur Program) empowering local chefs, artisans, caterers, and small food businesses to grow, get certified, and serve their neighborhoods with healthy, plant-based meals.

The Power of Food

The Urban Oak Initiative is reclaiming health, culture, and community through food.

We’re creating a future where every family has access to fresh, healthy, plant-based meals and where local food entrepreneurs can grow thriving businesses that nourish their neighborhoods.

Food Studio Groundbreaking

At the heart of this vision is The Food Studio, a community-based, shared commercial kitchen located in Pittsburgh Yards, South Atlanta. This one-of-a-kind space supports:

Fresh & Healthy Food Access For All

Culinary and Hospitality Training

Local Food Entrepreneurship and Economic Development

Community Inclusion & Workforce Development

The Urban Oak Initiative

Urban Oak Initiative is a third-generation movement rooted in food, justice, and community. Our story began in 1997 with Miss Robbie Townes, a civil rights activist who fed Freedom Riders in the Deep South. Her daughter, Jackie McGee, expanded that mission through public service and youth development. Today, her grandson Kevin McGee “Chef Kev” carries that legacy forward, using food as a tool for healing, justice, and empowerment.

For the last six years, Urban Oak has served Atlanta through plant-based pop-ups, senior meals, youth programming, and community food events. But the lack of accessible commercial kitchen space has limited how far and how fast we could grow.

Now, The Food Studio changes everything.
As the nation’s first community-focused, plant-based incubator, The Food Studio will empower up to 30 local food entrepreneurs to gain certification, build capacity, launch businesses, and create jobs right in the neighborhoods they call home.

Your gift today helps us:

Equip and open The Food Studio

Provide meals and plant-based education in underserved communities

Train the next generation of BIPOC chefs and foodpreneurs

Join us in planting seeds of change.
Every donation — large or small — helps reclaim health, dignity, and opportunity through food.

Your $25 gift helps Urban Oak Initiative open The Food Studio — a community-based shared plant-based kitchen empowering local chefs, feeding families, and creating food equity in Atlanta. Every dollar plants a seed for lasting change. Help Us Build the Future of Food

Give today and grow with us

The Food Studio - 2026 Annual Giving Campaign

The Food Studio: Creating access, opportunity, and health through plant-based entrepreneurship, community wellness, and economic empowerment.