Bay Boy teams up with Kanbe’s Markets to serve upcycled soup through the end of the year

Bay Boy gazpacho made with Kanbe’s produce // Courtesy of Bay Boy Specialty Sandwiches

This fall, Bay Boy Specialty Sandwiches is collaborating with Kanbe’s Markets, using produce from the nonprofit to upcycle the food into a seasonal menu item. In raising awareness for Kanbe’s’ mission and sending some of the profit their way, Bay Boy is assisting in a zero-waste program that redirects perfectly good produce from being wasted.  

As Bay Boy describes it, their process is like “soup roulette.”

It all comes down to what Kanbe’s has in stock. Bay Boy’s kitchen manager, David Calcara, creates each soup recipe depending on what sounds good that week or what’s surplus in their own kitchen, though he is open to requests. If Kanbe’s has the extra produce, they’ll take it off their hands, but there’s room for creativity. So far, they’ve made gazpacho, a potato and cheddar soup, and a roasted cabbage soup with the surplus produce.

Starting today, pollo borracho ($6.50 for 12oz) is available through the week, or while supplies last. This soup is made with tequila-marinated chicken, onions, peppers, green olives, Roma tomatoes, pinto beans, toasted corn tortillas, and sour cream.

Sorted produce at Kanbe’s Market // Photo by Sarah Sipple

“Kanbe’s is a really cool group of people, and it’s an awesome collaboration,” Calcara says. “So much of the restaurant industry is profit-driven, and while we’re trying to find something that works for our business, we want to do something that helps everyone out. It feels really nice to be able to give back and keep the food in circulation.”

Kanbe’s Markets, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, is dedicated to efficiently redistributing Kansas City’s food to ensure as little food waste as possible. According to the FDA, approximately 30-40 percent of food is wasted, which equates to about 133 billion pounds. Kanbe’s combats this by operating in four tiers of redistribution–fridges of produce in convenience stores and bodegas across the city, hunger relief nonprofits in Kansas and Missouri, farms and animal rescue centers, and compost–to keep food out of the landfill.

Their process of redistribution is more than just “let’s push this food out, so long as it gets eaten.” For those corner store fridges, Kanbe’s keeps track of each shop’s preferences. Got a shop whose regulars really love peaches? When they can, Kanbe’s will ensure that shop gets as many grocery-quality peaches as possible. For them, food isn’t just a need. They understand the craving as well. 

“The issue of hunger is incredibly solvable,” Gabrielle Richie, Kanbe’s communication manager, says. “40 percent of the food that’s harvested never reaches people. Why is there this big of a gap? The system is designed to discard. We want to fix that.”

As a smaller business, Bay Boy is more efficient with their waste compared to corporate businesses, composting what they can and utilizing the Too Good To Go app at the end of their opening hours. Sustainability is one of thier values, which makes their collaboration with Kanbe’s much more exciting to them. 

Kanbe’s is equally as excited as Bay Boy for this collaboration, though it’s not the first time they’ve passed some produce to a local business. Bay Boy is Kanbe’s most recent restaurant collab, having also worked with Disco Burger, Mildred’s, Blackhole Bakery, and Ugly Duckling to produce a special. 

“It’s so cool to see that creativity with the produce we deliver,” Richie says. “It’s so awesome to provide that opportunity to get involved with a nonprofit and to raise awareness and proceeds and do so in a way that’s a little out of the box.”

Follow Bay Boy on Instagram or Facebook to keep up with their soup specials and weekly availability. Soup will be available through the end of the year. If you’re interested in picking up a volunteer shift with Kanbe’s, you can sign up here.