Open Hand Atlanta

What Open Hand Atlanta does

Open Hand Atlanta is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered at 1380 West Marietta St NW in Atlanta, Georgia, founded in 1988 by Michael Edwards-Pruitt during the AIDS crisis. It operates as the largest community-based provider of medically tailored meals in the Southeast and one of the largest in the United States, currently producing and delivering over 5,000 meals per day to home-bound individuals with chronic and severe illness. The organization's core product is a from-scratch, medically tailored meal program designed and approved by Registered Dietitian Nutritionists to address specific health conditions (diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, HIV/AIDS), delivered directly to clients' homes, to congregate meal sites at senior centers (14 sites in Fulton County plus rural Georgia partners), and through clinical partner referrals. Adjacent programs include Medical Nutrition Therapy, Cooking Matters, Produce Prescription, Market Baskets, and the GRITS telenutrition education platform reaching 455+ seniors as of May 2022.

The technology backbone consists of a cloud-hosted Aptean ERP system unifying production software, inventory management, ordering, and accounting across handheld scanners, production tablets, and mobile devices; supporting SaaS tools include GivEffect for donations, VolunteerHub for volunteer management, and MailChimp for donor communications. In 2025 the organization earned Food Is Medicine Coalition (FIMC) accreditation and launched the Stephen Woods Workforce Development Program (WOODS), an 11-week culinary training initiative, while a wholly-owned social enterprise called Good Measure Meals sells ready-to-heat consumer meals with 100% of profits supporting the mission.

The business model is a hybrid nonprofit funding stack: roughly structured around individual/corporate donations and foundation grants (including a Takeda three-year, 273,000-meal partnership), federal and state government funding (SNAP, GusNIP, Ryan White HIV/AIDS), healthcare partner fees from managed care organizations and health systems (CareSource high-risk pregnancy pilot, CVS Health Zones, Emory, Grady), corporate sponsorships via signature events (Dining Out For Life, Golf Classic, Party in the Kitchen), and earned income from the Good Measure Meals social enterprise. Client meals are provided at no cost to qualifying individuals, with distribution driven by community-led partnerships, volunteer-supported operations (thousands of volunteers annually), and healthcare provider referrals. As of late 2025, the organization was led by CEO Matthew Pieper, who also chairs the FIMC Advisory Board, and was actively pursuing Medicare/Medicaid coverage of medically tailored meals as part of the broader Food Is Medicine movement.

Name

Open Hand Atlanta

Legal name

Open Hand Atlanta

Website

https://openhandatlanta.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1988

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Medically Tailored Meal Services

NAICS

Community Food Services (62421)

SIC

Services-Home Health Care Services (8082)

akta.pro primary industry

Meal Preparation, Nutrition Support & Feeding Assistance (HLADAGAD)

Keywords

• Medically tailored meals
• Home-delivered meals
• Nutrition education services
• Food is medicine
• Community nutrition programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Atlanta

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Supply Chain, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Charitable Donations and Grants: Individual donations, corporate giving, and foundation grants fund the majority of services. Donors can give through the website, at events, by mail, or set up recurring monthly gifts. Special campaigns target meal funding.
2. Government Funding: Federal and state funding from programs including SNAP, GusNIP, and Ryan White HIV/AIDS programs. Funding streams are under threat of reduction, prompting advocacy efforts.
3. Social Enterprise (Good Measure Meals): Good Measure Meals is Open Hand's social enterprise with 100% of profits supporting the mission. Sells healthy, ready-to-heat meals delivered to consumers for individual health goals.
4. Healthcare Partner Fees: Partnerships with managed care organizations, health systems, and payers who fund medically tailored meals as part of care coordination programs (e.g., CareSource high-risk pregnancy program).
5. Corporate Sponsorships and Events: Corporate sponsorships for events including Dining Out For Life, Golf Classic, and Party in the Kitchen. Employee wellness programs offered through Good Measure Meals.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Open Hand Atlanta prepares, packages, and delivers made-from-scratch medically tailored meals approved by Registered Dietitian Nutritionists to home-bound individuals with chronic or severe illness. It also provides nutrition education programs, Medical Nutrition Therapy, congregate meals at senior centers, telenutrition seminars, market baskets, and a culinary workforce development program, producing over 5,000 meals per day across Georgia.

Product overview

Open Hand Atlanta operates as a nonprofit organization offering medically tailored meals and nutrition education services. Their core offerings include Medically Tailored Meals (delivered to home-bound individuals with chronic conditions), Nutrition Education programs (Medical Nutrition Therapy, Cooking Matters, Produce Prescription), and the Stephen Woods Workforce Development Program (WOODS) for culinary training. Their social enterprise Good Measure Meals sells prepared meals with proceeds supporting the mission. The organization also operates Market Baskets and Produce Boxes for food access. Internally, they utilize the Aptean ERP system to manage operations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Good Measure Meals: Social enterprise that makes it easy to meet health goals through convenient, ready-to-heat meals delivered to your door. 100% of profits support Open Hand's mission.
• GRITS
• WOODS

Products and services

• Medically Tailored Meals

Quantifiable outcome

• 1,594,000 hospitalizations could be avoided in first year if all people with diet-sensitive conditions received medically tailored meals
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Food Is Medicine Coalition (FIMC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOpen Hand is a founding and accredited member of FIMC, an association of nonprofit medically tailored food and nutrition service providers. Open Hand CEO Matthew Pieper serves as Chair of the FIMC Advisory Board. FIMC accreditation represents a significant milestone, with Open Hand helping define standards for medically tailored meal interventions.
• ARCHI (Atlanta Regional Commission for Health Improvement)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with ARCHI and its Community Resource Hubs to provide six weeks' worth of meals to clients who screened positive for food insecurity. Goal was to meet needs of low-income people diagnosed with chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol.
• Emory HealthcarecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOpen Hand partnered with Emory Healthcare to hold the inaugural Georgia Food Is Medicine Summit, bringing renowned researchers to speak on the value proposition of medically tailored meals and nutrition counseling. Key decision makers and healthcare leaders shared thoughts, ideas, and data about integrating nutrition services into healthcare.
• CareSourcecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with CareSource, a managed care organization, to examine the impact of medically tailored meals on health outcomes for individuals facing high-risk pregnancy. This is the second pilot program with CareSource focusing on supporting neighbors with high-risk pregnancies.
• Good Measure MealscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGood Measure Meals is Open Hand's social enterprise, with 100% of its profits supporting the mission. The service provides convenient, ready-to-heat meals delivered to consumers' doors, making it easy to meet health goals. Offers include member discounts, nutrition education, on-site meals, and corporate wellness programs.
• Fulton CountycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFulton County Senior Services partners with Open Hand, with Registered Dietitian Nutritionists visiting 14 senior centers across the county monthly to provide nutrition education. County is dedicated to having RDNs teach older adults, providing access to nutrition knowledge.
• Gainesville-Hall Senior ServicesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNewest senior partner added in 2025, expanding the reach of nutrition education and medically tailored meal programs across Georgia.
• Grady Health SystemcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Grady for the Hospital to Home program, providing healthy meals for patients at critical time during recovery from hospitalization. Recognizes that nutrition is critical for patients recovering from hospitalization.
• CVS HealthcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCVS Health Zones program provided medically-tailored meals for 4 weeks followed by 6 weeks of Cooking Matters nutrition education paired with weekly seasonal produce delivery at Herndon Square.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• God's Love We Deliver: New York-based nonprofit that cooks and home-delivers medically tailored meals to people living with serious illness; operates a near-identical model to Open Hand Atlanta and is a fellow FIMC accredited member.
• Project Open Hand: San Francisco-based nonprofit providing home-delivered meals and nutrition services to people living with HIV/AIDS, critical illness, and seniors; founding FIMC member with directly comparable mission, model, and target population.
• Community Servings: Boston-area nonprofit medically tailored meal provider serving individuals and families living with critical and chronic illness; FIMC accredited with the same made-from-scratch, RDN-approved meal model as Open Hand Atlanta.
• MANNA: Philadelphia-based nonprofit that cooks and home-delivers medically tailored meals and provides nutrition counseling to clients with serious illness; FIMC member with directly overlapping service model, payer partnerships, and target population.
• Food & Friends: Washington DC-area nonprofit providing home-delivered medically tailored meals and nutrition counseling to people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other serious illnesses; founding FIMC member with directly comparable program structure.

Broad incumbents

• Meals on Wheels America: National umbrella organization supporting a network of 5,000+ community-based senior nutrition programs across the U.S.; broader and more diffuse than Open Hand, but the dominant incumbent in home-delivered meals for elderly populations.
• Mom's Meals (PurFoods): For-profit, nationally scaled provider of refrigerated, medically tailored meals delivered to homes and shipped to managed care organizations, health plans, and individuals; competes with Open Hand for the same payer and Medicaid contracts at a national scale.
• GA Foods: Florida-based for-profit provider of home-delivered meals, including medically tailored options, serving government, managed care, and senior living programs across the U.S.; directly competes for payer MTM contracts.

Emerging players

• Epicured: For-profit medically tailored meal provider based in the Northeast focusing on chronic conditions such as diabetes and digestive disease; smaller and more regionally focused than Mom's Meals but increasingly pursuing payer partnerships.

Others

• FareStart: Seattle-based nonprofit that combines a culinary workforce development program with social-enterprise meal production; comparable to Open Hand via the WOODS workforce program and Good Measure Meals social enterprise.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/OpenHandAtlanta
• Instagraminstagram.com/openhandatlanta
• Xx.com/OpenHandAtlanta
• YouTubeyoutube.com/openhandatlanta

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Open Hand Atlanta