In the last few months, several restaurants—most downtown—announced their closures.
In mid-January, ‘Cille and ‘Scoe announced its plans to close this summer. Later that month, it was Dame’s Chicken and Waffles and M’Coul’s Public House. Then, last month, Liberty Oak. This week, Steel Hands Brewing closed suddenly.
“It’s hard to be a restaurant right now,” said Kathryn Hubert, owner and head chef of Chez Genèse. “It’s been hard for us individually, and I’ve seen it be hard for our downtown restaurants as a whole.”
The closures kept Hubert awake at night. Then she had an idea.
She emailed all of the downtown restaurants she knew and proposed the idea of a group meal box. The name? Too Many Cooks In The Kitchen.
The model is similar to community-supported agriculture (CSA) boxes, letting customers pick one of three boxes filled with products from five downtown businesses… Each box features restaurants based on a part of downtown and holds 15-20 meals for $205.
The trial run launched this week with 150 initial boxes selling out quickly.
Chez Genèse made chicken and shiitake mushroom pot pies and honey ginger snap cookies for the Southend Box. There are also Northend and Hamburger Square options.
“I don’t think anyone wants to see downtown fail,” said Alexis Chandler, owner of Chandler’s coffeeshop, featured in the Hamburger Square box.
The service industry has been difficult, Chandler said — especially post-pandemic.
“Everything feels really hard right now,” she said. “Everyone’s pockets are feeling it. Everyone’s a little scared. We’re seeing our friends’ businesses close. More than anything, it feels good to not feel scared alone.”
Restaurants have always run on thin margins. But these past few years have proven particularly difficult.”
The pandemic was such a devastating loss for so many restaurants,” Hubert said. “And then even if they survived that, we’re still crawling out of it.”
More recently, she pointed to the shift in politics, tariffs, rising costs, and supply chain issues as adding to the burden. Then, last month, snow and ice effectively shut down the city for more than a week, cutting further into the bottom line.
“It can take things over the edge,” Hubert said.
The Historic Magnolia House, in the Northend box, will be featuring a salmon dish. Its owner, Natalie Pass Miller, is proud to be part of the effort.
“I think it’s a great representation of how you come together to collectively build any kind of business ecosystem,” said Miller. “It’s us pausing to come together to solve a problem.”
Joining other restaurateurs and having these conversations has been a salve, Miller said.
“This is the beginning of big change,” Miller said. “And I ask that the community lean into the existing downtown businesses.”
Hubert said she’s already been overwhelmed by the community’s response.
“It’s been a good shot in the arm to see the enthusiasm,” she said. “It just has felt very tangible the ways that people have shown their care and appreciation.”
In April, the group will launch a monthly subscription box. They’ll continue to offer three different boxes, each with five restaurants, contributing food or drink. The menus will change every time, and they’ll likely sell boxes on a weekly or biweekly basis for local pickup.
More than anything, Hubert said she hopes Too Many Cooks leads to more conversations about how to support local businesses right now.
“Starting a new business was not on my 2026 Bingo card,” she said. “But I just was thinking, ‘How cool would it be if this brought people together in my community?’”
