A Drew Keske Concept · 501(c)(3) in formation
Buying what farms
can’t sell.
Full Yield Kitchen — a licensed kitchen, bakery, café, and farm stand that transforms surplus harvest into premium pantry staples while training the next generation of food workers.
A Companion Concept
Full Yield Kitchen is a sister concept to Groundworks — same founder, same thesis about food systems, a different operating model. The feasibility work below is preserved here as a reference case for what a surplus-driven, production-kitchen variant of the Groundworks mission could look like.
Our Mission
American farms waste 30–40% of what they grow. Not because it’s spoiled — because no market exists for it.
We are that market.
Guiding Principles
Four ideas the whole operation rests on.
Full Yield Kitchen is not a food bank, not a restaurant, not a farm. It is a food transformation enterprise — a production kitchen and retail space that exists to solve a specific market failure.
Buy, don't beg
Farmers are suppliers, not donors. We pay fair below-market rates for cosmetically imperfect and surplus produce — a business relationship that earns priority and consistency.
Transform everything
Every crop has multiple exit paths: preserved, baked, dried, or sold fresh. Nothing is single-use. In-kitchen waste is composted, closing the loop.
The kitchen trains people
Workforce development is embedded in daily operations, not bolted on. Trainees produce the goods that fund the program.
The farm stand tells the story
Retail is where the community tastes the mission. Every $7 jar of jam is a verifiable diversion of food waste.
The Model
Five functions under one roof.
Buy low, transform high, sell at market, train people along the way. Every dollar of surplus produce that enters exits as a product worth 3–8× the input cost.
Sourcing
Farm Purchasing Program
We purchase surplus, imperfect, and unsold produce from partner farms at fair below-market rates — creating a reliable secondary market for crops that would otherwise compost or landfill.
Production
Kitchen & Bakery
A licensed commercial kitchen turns purchased inputs into preserves, sauces, pickles, herb blends, and a full artisan bread and pastry program. Buy low, transform high.
Retail
Café & Farm Stand
An on-site café counter and farm stand sells everything we make. The café is the tasting engine; the farm stand is where the community connects with the mission.
Product Lines
Six categories. One pantry built from surplus.
Every label tells a customer which farm grew the crop, when it was harvested, and what would have happened to it otherwise.
Preserves
Jams, jellies, marmalades, fruit butters
Pickles & Ferments
Vinegar pickles, lacto-ferments, krauts
Sauces & Spreads
Tomato sauces, hot sauces, chutneys, pestos
Bread Program
Sourdough, country loaves, rye, focaccia
Sweet Bakery
Seasonal tarts, scones, cookies, quick breads
Dried Goods
Herb blends, fruit chips, teas, granola
Measured Impact
Numbers we’ll publish — on the wall, on every label, in every annual report.
U.S. farm production wasted annually
Value multiplier on every dollar of surplus input
Integrated functions: kitchen, bakery, café, stand, training
Nonprofit structure aligned with mission
Workforce Development
A training program disguised as a kitchen.
Every production shift is a training shift. Cohort-based participants learn commercial food production, baking, food safety certification, and small-business operations — earning credentials while producing the goods that fund the program.
Trainees graduate with a ServSafe certification, hands-on bakery and preservation experience, a portfolio of work, and a network of local employers across food retail, wholesale, and hospitality.
Get Involved
Farmer, funder, future trainee, or just curious — let’s talk.
Full Yield Kitchen is in active feasibility and pre-launch. We’re building the founding farm network, board, and funding stack now.
d.s.keske@gmail.com