Story by Lillia Callum-Penso
At this point, Dayna Lee-Márquez estimates she and her staff at Comal 864 have given away around 18,000 tacos. The drive to feed people without means is the same drive the chef and owner feels towards feeding those that come to the restaurant for the birria quesitacos and the mezcal forward sips–a sense of fierce hospitality.
When she opened her first location in the Woodside neighborhood, a USDA-classified food desert, Lee-Márquez turned inward and asked what it meant to her to open a restaurant there. “It just happened that the place that I could afford to get into had a lot of need around it,” Lee-Márquez says. “Then that turned into a sense of responsibility.”
The chef created a pay-it-forward program allowing customers to cover the cost of a donated taco, but Lee-Márquez has covered a lot of the expense herself.
What some may call a trend, others see as a basic tenet of good business, and restaurants, with their unique position as community centers, are at the heart. Since 2020, 84 percent of restaurant operators say they have made some type of charitable contribution.
“I think it takes somebody who is willing to think just one level deeper,” Lee-Márquez says of restaurants and giving. “We are poised to make the biggest impact on our communities because that’s our job.”
She threw her first community meal on Thanksgiving in 2021, serving hundreds of donated plates of turkey and dressing to those in the community. Lee-Márquez did the same for Christmas, holding a clothing drive as well, answering the need as she saw it. This holiday will mark the fifth community meal and donation drive.
Growing the Local Restaurant Scene
While Khailing Neoh and her staff at Sum Bar have been intertwined in community betterment and support since the dim sum concept was a pop-up, that effort has crystalized more in the past year.
While the restaurant hosts a Lunar New Year festival and an AAPI festival each year to raise money and attention for local advocacy organizations, Sum Bar has emerged as a strong supporter of local businesses, local chefs, and of new local restaurant concepts by hosting regular pop-ups.
On Tuesdays, when the restaurant is closed, you will now find a different chef serving out of the Sum Bar kitchen.
In addition, Khailing and her staff are available to help with decisions large and small, from how to keep plates warm or how to structure a dinner service to how get your name out into the community.
“What I struggled with when I started, that’s how I give back,” Neoh says. “The hardships and the people that fished me out of those times, that’s how I learned to give back.”
“The pop-ups have given space for others to grow their dreams. Jen Anderson, formerly of Take Care and now of Supper Club, has found a devoted following with her soulful and creative menus, while Potluck has gone from idea to full-fledged business.
The ripple effect of new food concepts is felt in the ever-richer culture of Greenville.
“The humanity of serving people food and having those conversations face to face, that’s the whole reason we get to feel like we have community,” Neoh says.
Where to Eat in Greenville: Pizza
Andy O’Mara and Loren Frant can’t quite pinpoint when they decided to include a giving model in their business plans for Sidewall Pizza Co., but it seemed like the platform of a business meant a chance to foster greater impact.
Since 2015, the two owners of five Sidewall Pizza locations and Sidewall Pastry Kitchen give regularly to causes large and small. Over the years this has looked like profit sharing, whereby Sidewall gives a portion of sales on a designated day to a local organization.
The company also regularly donates food to nonprofits or other efforts where food would be an added cost. The company’s more localized, less publicized efforts have included providing aid to a family that lost a home in a fire, to supporting someone at risk of eviction.
“A core part of our culture is to give back to those around us,” O’Mara says. “It can mean employees, it could mean our neighbor, it could mean somebody passing through town.”
These micro efforts have evolved to include a birthday cake program. Now, Sidewall Pastry Kitchen partners with local organizations, shelters, and hospitals to provide birthday cakes for those experiencing instability. The bakery has given cakes to children whose parents are going through long-term medical treatment and to children living in shelters.
“If we are going to create all this infrastructure and this ability to make food and to have a gathering place, why do that if it’s not going to engage with the community and help people that need help?” Frant says.
From the conceptualization of their neighborhood restaurant, Kitchen Sync, owners Kevin Feeny and Karin and John Farrell have operated with a blended-values business model that upholds “compassion, social responsibility, and ecological integrity.” The restaurant has been named the No. 1 independently owned Green Certified restaurant since 2016.
The Kitchen Sync Stewardship Foundation (KiSS) supports community stewardship initiatives through monetary funds and engagement, having worked with social enterprises like Jasmine Kitchen and Soteria CDC.
Table 301 has long been at the forefront of charitable giving and food donations. Since the opening of the group’s flagship restaurant, Soby’s, in 1997, Table 301 has donated to countless local and national causes.
The effort has since grown into a more formal giving program, Brunch for a Cause, whereby restaurants donate proceeds from a single day’s brunch service to help those facing natural disasters. In total, Brunch for a Cause has raised more than $270,000.
The first Brunch for a Cause was held in 2004, following the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. The most recent effort was in July 2025 to aid those impacted by devastating flooding in Texas.
The owners of the popular downtown restaurant with deep local roots have always given on a small scale. The monthly “Tiki Tuesdays” that Society held since opening in 2021 have raised $55,000 for local organizations and individuals in the hospitality industry facing financial hardship.
The owners grew the effort in 2024 with Shucksgiving, a charitable oyster roast held the day before Thanksgiving that raised money for March of Dimes. This year’s Shucksgiving will be raising funds for another local cause. Get the details on Instagram @societygvl.
