Our Daily Bread

What Our Daily Bread does

Our Daily Bread Soup Kitchen and Social Center is a Cincinnati-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1985 that provides free meals and social services to individuals experiencing homelessness and food insecurity, primarily in the city's Over the Rhine neighborhood. Its core programs include a Soup Kitchen serving 500+ meals each weekday using 100% rescued or donated food, a Social Center open weekdays, an on-site Social Work service available Tuesday through Thursday, a Food Rescue Program that salvages near-expiration and surplus food from local food industry partners, and Our Daily Shares, a 2018-launched channel that distributes bagged lunches and ingredients to sister agencies including shelters, outreach teams, and food pantries. The organization requires no ID or proof of need from guests and allows unlimited helpings, and over 80% of guests attend 2-5 days per week.

Operationally, the organization runs a single physical location at 1730 Race Street and is powered by 12-15 community volunteers per weekday supplemented by a small paid staff (11-50 employees total) led by a Director of Operations, a Director of Communications and Development, and an Office Administrator. There is no proprietary technology platform; the digital footprint is limited to a WordPress website, EveryAction-powered donation forms, email newsletter signup, and social media presence on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Threads.

The business model is purely donation-driven: revenue streams include individual online and mailed contributions, stock transfers brokered through Morgan Stanley, planned/legacy giving, and in-kind food and goods donations. No fees are charged to guests, no pricing model exists, and there is no disclosed Form 990 revenue figure in the public-facing material. Distribution runs through three direct channels (dine-in soup kitchen, carry-out window, and donation drop-off) plus the Our Daily Shares partner-agency channel, with no current geographic expansion beyond Cincinnati.

Name

Our Daily Bread

Legal name

Our Daily Bread Soup Kitchen and Social Center

Website

https://ourdailybread.us

Company type

Private

Founded year

1985

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Our Daily Bread is a Cincinnati-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit, founded in 1985, that serves 500+ free meals daily to people experiencing homelessness and food insecurity using 100% rescued and donated food, and distributes surplus food to partner agencies through its Our Daily Shares program.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Social Services — Food Assistance / Hunger Relief

NAICS

Community Food Services (62421), Food Service Contractors (72231)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)

akta.pro primary industry

Food Assistance & Food Banks (BPAGAEAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Food Assistance & Nutrition Relief (Emergency Feeding) (BPAGAAAD), Soup, Chili & Comfort Foods (Self-Serve or Packaged) (CRAHAKAF)

Keywords

• Soup kitchen services
• Food rescue program
• Social services
• Food distribution
• Charitable meal service

Headquarters

HQ city

Cincinnati

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: Tax-deductible contributions from individuals, either online through EveryAction platform, by mail to 1730 Race St, Cincinnati, OH 45202, or by phone through Office Administrator Valerie Elfers.
2. Stock Transfers: Donors can transfer stock electronically to Morgan Stanley account for Our Daily Bread, which is then cashed and processed.
3. Planned Giving: Legacy giving programs allowing donors to leave charitable bequests.
4. In-Kind Food and Goods Donations: Rescued food from local food industry and donated goods from community members support meal service operations.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Our Daily Bread operates a free weekday soup kitchen out of its Cincinnati location, serving 500+ hot meals each day using 100% rescued or donated food, with carry-out options and unlimited helpings to anyone who walks in with no ID or proof of need required. It complements meal service with a Social Center for stability and connection, an on-site social worker for non-food referrals, a Food Rescue program that diverts surplus food from local industry partners, and the Our Daily Shares program that wholesale-redistributes bagged lunches and ingredients to sister agencies serving unhoused and food-insecure populations.

Product overview

Our Daily Bread operates as a single, unified nonprofit service organization providing meals and social support to people experiencing hunger and homelessness in Cincinnati, Ohio. The portfolio consists of core food service programs (Soup Kitchen, Food Rescue, Our Daily Shares) and social support services (Social Center, Social Work) supported by donation and volunteer programs. All services operate from one location at 1730 Race Street and rely entirely on donated and rescued food, with no fees charged to guests.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Food Rescue Program: A program that rescues food close to expiration date, bulk food, prepared food from events, baked goods, and usable scraps from various sources to prepare meals for guests.
• Our Daily Shares

Products and services

• Soup Kitchen (Dine-in Hot Meals) Free hot meals served in the dining room Monday-Friday 8:30am-11:45am, providing 500+ meals each weekday prepared from 100% rescued or donated food; available to anyone who walks in with no ID, no proof of need, and unlimited helpings.
• Social Center A welcoming, safe space open Mon-Thurs 8am-2pm and Fri 8am-Noon, offering stability, hope, and a sense of belonging to guests with dignity and compassion.
• Social Work Services On-site social worker available Tues-Thurs 8:30am-Noon to help guests with non-food needs, including referrals to mental health and other support services, addressing root causes alongside hunger.
• Food Rescue Program Rescues and serves food that would otherwise go to waste — items close to expiration, bulk food, prepared food from events, baked goods, and usable scraps — sourced from local food industry partners for use in meal preparation.
• Our Daily Shares Wholesale-redistribution program providing bagged lunches and rescued ingredients to sister agencies including shelters, outreach teams, and food pantries that serve unhoused populations and people experiencing food insecurity.
• Volunteer Program On-site and off-site volunteer opportunities including meal serving, food prep, table cleaning, sandwich making, canned food drives, and baking, requiring an ongoing weekly commitment 8am-Noon weekdays, supplemented by group drives from schools, businesses, faith groups, and book clubs.
• Donate Funds Monetary donation program offering multiple tax-deductible giving channels: online giving via EveryAction, mail-in contributions, phone donations through the Office Administrator, planned/legacy giving, memorial gifts, and stock transfers through a Morgan Stanley account.
• Donate Food & Goods In-kind donation program accepting food items (sandwiches, baked treats, fresh fruit, canned goods) and essential operational goods (plastic bags, toilet paper, Ziploc bags, to-go cups, forks, trash bags) to support meal service, with drop-off hours Mon-Fri 7:00am-Noon at the back donation door and an Amazon Wishlist option.

Quantifiable outcome

• Serves 500+ meals daily, five days a week
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Deeper Roots CoffeeminorOthersHosted story time reading of Grain of Hope comic book at their location, demonstrating community support for the organization's mission.
• CaracoleminorOthersPartnered with Our Daily Bread to help organize the Grain of Hope story time event.
• Kyle ChaneyminorOthersVideographer who created video content for Grain of Hope story time event.
• Sparkle LeighminorOthersPerformed reading of Grain of Hope children's book about food rescue and preventing food waste.
• Sister Agencies (Shelters, Outreach Teams, Food Pantries)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOur Daily Shares program, started in 2018, provides bagged lunches and ingredients to sister agencies who serve unhoused populations and people experiencing food insecurity. Partners include shelters, outreach teams, and food pantries. This allows the organization to save more food from going to waste, expand access to home-cooked meals, and help other agencies decrease their food budgets.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• DC Central Kitchen: Washington, D.C. nonprofit that combines a large-volume community kitchen with a food-recovery and redistribution model; highly comparable operating model to ODB's Soup Kitchen + Food Rescue + Our Daily Shares combination.
• God's Love We Deliver: NYC nonprofit that cooks and home-delivers medically tailored meals to people living with serious illness; comparable nonprofit food-service model with integrated social-support services.
• Matthew 25: Ministries: Cincinnati-based nonprofit addressing hunger, poverty, and disaster relief through food distribution and product donations; comparable mission, geography, and donor base.
• Gleaners Community Food Bank: Southeastern Michigan food bank distributing food to partner agencies and operating direct-service meal programs; comparable community-food-service mission with agency distribution.
• Freestore Foodbank: Cincinnati-based hunger-relief nonprofit serving Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky; the largest food bank in the region and the most direct peer given shared geography and food-assistance mission.
• St. Vincent de Paul Cincinnati: Cincinnati-area social services and food assistance nonprofit serving low-income and unhoused populations; comparable geographic footprint and integrated food-plus-social-service model.

Broad incumbents

• Feeding America: National hunger-relief organization and largest U.S. domestic hunger-relief charity; sets the broader context in which community-level soup kitchens and food banks like ODB operate.

Regional players

• LA Regional Food Bank: Los Angeles-region food bank distributing food to partner agencies and feeding programs; comparable agency-distribution model to Our Daily Shares but in a much larger geographic market.
• City Harvest: New York City's largest food-rescue organization collecting surplus food and distributing it to communities in need; directly comparable food-rescue-plus-redistribution operating model in a different geography.
• Greater Chicago Food Depository: Chicago-area food bank distributing food through a network of partner agencies; comparable food-rescue-to-agency distribution model analogous to ODB's Our Daily Shares program.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/ourdailybreadcincinnati
• Instagraminstagram.com/ourdailybreadcincy
• TikToktiktok.com/@ourdailybreadcincy
• Xx.com/rdailybread

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Our Daily Bread