The campaign we're raising for now
Help us take the table past the gate
Everything a guest eats here stays behind our gate. Our dream is to carry it into Almaty — a plant-based restaurant and a healthy-food store, open to anyone, that also earns its way back into sponsored beds. We've come part of the way. This is the piece we're asking you to help finish.
Active campaignWhy this matters
Right now, the only way to eat this food is to come and stay — which most of the city never will. Families ask us all the time where they can try it first, and there's nowhere to send them.
The center also lives season to season. Paying guests carry it through summer, but winter is lean, and every lean winter puts sponsored beds at risk. We need something that earns steadily, all year, and points people toward the program instead of away from it.
What we're building
One ground-floor space in Almaty, in two halves that feed each other:
A plant-based restaurant
The center's cooking, in the city — a real, warm place to eat, not a health lecture with a menu.
A healthy-food store
Bread, produce from our farm, pantry basics, and the ingredients our recipes call for — hard to find here otherwise.
A door to the program
A place where a curious first-timer can taste it, ask questions, and book a stay — no pressure.
A year-round engine
Profit that flows straight back into sponsored beds, steadying the center through winter.
Active campaign
What it will take
Raised so far from 41 private donors. The rest is what stands between the dream and an open door.
What's still needed
- Commercial kitchenovens, cooktops, prep stations, and ventilation to code$21,000
- Renovation & fit-outfloors, plumbing, wiring, and the dining room itself$18,500
- Cold storage & store shelvingrefrigeration and the fittings for the food store$9,000
- First three months of inventorythe stock to open the doors and keep them open while word spreads$5,600
- Staff hiring & trainingcooks and shopkeepers, trained in our kitchen before opening$4,500
- Permits, signage & launchlicenses, the sign over the door, and telling the city we're here$2,400
What it looks like when it works
- A family walks in for lunch, loves it, and books a week at the center by dessert.
- The farm has a buyer every week of the year, not just in program season.
- A winter that used to threaten sponsored beds now pays for two of them.
- The food stops being a secret you have to travel for.
We hold a lease option on the space until the end of this program season. Reaching the goal in time is what turns it from a plan into a place.
“When guests leave, the hardest question is always the same: 'Where do I find this at home?' For years the honest answer was 'nowhere.' The restaurant is us finally being able to say 'here — let me show you.'”
The dream, taking shape
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Contact
Help us open the door
There's no button to press here — this is bigger than a click. Tell us you're in, ask what a gift of any size would do, and let's build this together.