Our Story
"Sir, are you going to finish that?"
It was this simple sentence, uttered from the mouth of a young homeless man one summer morning in the East Village that motivated us to create Hearty Start.
It was the summer of 2014 and our president and co-founder, Teddy Fitzgibbons, was walking to work, halfway through enjoying his daily breakfast sandwich. As he rounded a street corner, a young homeless man, tucked against the ground in the shade from a brick wall, caught him off guard with that humble sentence; "Sir, are you going to finish that?". Admittedly, Teddy's first reaction was to look away and continue walking. But when he realized just how easily and affordably he could replace the remaining half of his bacon, egg and cheese sandwich, he turned around and handed the hungry man his breakfast.
Since the summer of 2014, we've been working on our dream of sharing the love of breakfast. We're proud of the partnerships we've made, the work we've done, and most importantly all of the large-hearted lovers like you who help us feed those in need.