Answer extracted from the How I Built This with Guy Raz podcast — listen to the full episode below.
What is the business model and social impact of Cooks Who Feed, the kitchen linen company based in Canada?
Cooks Who Feed is a for-profit social enterprise in the Niagara region near Toronto that produces kitchen linens — chef aprons, tea towels, grocery totes, wine totes, and linen napkins — while operating a meal give-back model that has provided around two million meals to those in need. The company owns its own production facility and directly hires and trains women from surrounding villages as seamstresses, providing safe and fair employment.
A production model built on fair employment and community training
Founded about six years ago, Cooks Who Feed operates a vertically integrated production facility just north of Delhi where it manufactures all its kitchen linens. Rather than outsourcing manufacturing, the company built its own supply chain with deliberate social intent.
The core social mission centers on hiring women from surrounding villages and training them as seamstresses. This approach creates stable, safe employment in communities where job opportunities are often limited. The company treats fair wages and working conditions as non-negotiable, embedding social impact directly into its operating model rather than as an afterthought.
The meal give-back mechanism
The business uses product sales as the driver for meal donations. For every purchase of kitchen linens, the company donates meals to those in need through its established give-back partnerships. Since inception, this model has generated roughly two million meals distributed to food-insecure populations.
The approximately 75% of sales coming from B2B clients demonstrates that hospitality businesses, restaurants, and corporate buyers see value in both the product quality and the social story. As Daymond John discusses in the episode, this B2B concentration reflects a deliberate market positioning where professional buyers are willing to pay a premium for linens tied to measurable social impact.
Daymond John — Founder of FUBU, the streetwear brand built in the early 1990s. After appearing on How I Built This in 2018 to recount his journey from Red Lobster employee to entrepreneur, John became a longtime judge on Shark Tank. He is also a speaker and author focused on helping founders evaluate business fundamentals and founder authenticity.
The elegance of Cooks Who Feed's model is that it doesn't separate business success from social output — they are one and the same. Every dollar in revenue directly translates to both employment income for seamstresses and meals for those in need. This alignment removes the tension that often exists between profit and purpose in traditional social enterprises.
For founders evaluating social enterprise models, the Cooks Who Feed case study illustrates how operational control and direct employment relationships can become competitive advantages. Owning the production facility means the company can enforce its values at every step, from wages to quality standards, without relying on external contractors who might cut corners.
See also
How did FUBU gain early brand awareness and traction before becoming a mainstream brand?
Daymond John credits mom-and-pop stores as the ones who made FUBU, explaining that store owners told customers that the four young men behind the brand were building something authentic for their community.
Should a startup brand maintain its original niche origin story even when growth is coming from outside that niche?
Daymond John argues that it is too early to abandon the original origin story, because founders need something to anchor their narrative and maintain authenticity as they scale.
What does Daymond John look for in a founder or pitch when deciding whether to invest on Shark Tank?
Daymond John evaluates whether he can personally add value by reducing costs or increasing sales, and whether the founder created their product out of a genuine need or passion rather than chasing a trend.
Key takeaways
- Cooks Who Feed generates social impact through a direct link between product sales and meal donations, delivering approximately two million meals over six years.
- The company owns and operates its own production facility in Ontario, hiring and training women as seamstresses to ensure fair employment and quality control.
- Roughly 75% of revenue comes from B2B clients in hospitality and corporate sectors, indicating that professional buyers value the combination of product quality and verified social impact.
- Vertical integration of production allows the company to embed fair wages and safe working conditions into every step of the supply chain, removing reliance on external contractors.