{"id":2266,"date":"2025-08-01T15:09:47","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T13:09:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/about-us\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T17:12:31","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T15:12:31","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/about-us\/","title":{"rendered":"About us"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

ABOUT US<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

Public Food is a food justice organization. <\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n

We see food justice as the fight for public interests over commercial interests.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n
\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>
\n

Action Agency<\/h2>

On the one hand, we do this as an action agency that puts the case for food as a public service on the social and political agenda. For example, through campaigns, by connecting residents, doctors, farmers and scientists and farmers to our mission, and through a think tank public food sector. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>

\n
\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>
\n

Developer<\/h2>

On the other hand, we are a non-profit social enterprise that puts this plea directly into practice. Under the name Mensa Mensa, we have been running a public service for food in Rotterdam since 2023. <\/p>\n<\/div>

MORE ABOUT MENSA MENSA<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>
\n

How it all began<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n

Public Food was born in 2021 out of indignation about the way our current food system works. After all, why is food a commodity in the first place? Why is most of our food produced by companies whose main goal is to make a profit? If good food is the basis for a better life, why isn’t food a basic public service? Since February 2023, we have been a foundation. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n
\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>
\n

2022 – De Volkskantine<\/h2>

In 2022 in Almere, in cooperation with food knowledge institute Flevo Campus, we set up a Mensa Mensa pilot, under the name Volkskantine.<\/p>\n

For a year, the Volkskantine ran in the center of Almere, between the Burger King and KFC, as a city restaurant where residents could put together an organic meal and plantbased meal for snack bar prices.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Team<\/h2>

Public Food is a non-profit foundation.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>
\n

Shivant Jhagroe<\/h3>
Raad van Toezicht (voorzitter)<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/article>
\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>
\n

Femke Mosch<\/h3>
Raad van Toezicht (penningmeester)<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/article>
\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>
\n

Meredith Overman<\/h3>
Raad van toezicht (secretaris)<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/article>
\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>
\n

Esther Matze<\/h3>
Co-directeur<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/article>
\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>
\n

Floris Visser<\/h3>
Co-directeur<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/article>
\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>
\n

Mehtap Garigoplu<\/h3>
Keuken <\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/article>
\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>
\n

Nadja Polman<\/h3>
Keuken<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/article>
\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>
\n

Robin Koek<\/h3>
Zakelijk leider<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/article>
\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>
\n

Latiefa Al-Sebaey<\/h3>
Chef Marketing en Communicatie <\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/article><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>
\n

Stichting Public FoodHillevliet 90 3074KD RotterdamRSIN 864964560<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n

<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n

Statutory objective<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n

The aim of the Foundation is to promote a society-wide change to healthy and sustainable food, as well as anything related or conducive to the above in the broadest sense.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n

<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n

Compensation Policy<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n

Public Food is a non-profit foundation with a Supervisory Board, its role is to set policy, ensure the mission of the foundation and oversee the board. The Supervisory Board is unpaid. The daily management is in the hands of 2 director-board members. The directors receive a compensation for these activities. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n

<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n

How is Public Food funded?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n

A portion of the foundation’s income comes from grants. A portion comes from Mensa Mensa’s own income, earned from the sale of meals in the canteen and participants’ own contributions to Mealprep. Canteen and Mealprep revenues are lower than costs. We also have our own income from catering for companies, giving lectures and presentations, workshops to schools, for example. These revenues are higher than the costs. The profit from this is used entirely for the social mission and activities of the foundation. For the apprenticeship program, the foundation receives an annual fee for guiding participants. We also receive donations from individuals and companies. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n

How is the money spent?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n

Most of the costs are personnel costs. The organization has a size of 6 fte. In addition to paid staff, Public Food works with several volunteers, about 1 fte over the year. In addition, there are housing costs, marketing and communication budget, and purchase of ingredients for the meals. Part of this is produced with residual streams we receive free of charge (at delivery cost), part is purchased from local farmers and suppliers. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n

How are funds managed?<\/strong><\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n

Public Food Foundation has no assets. A positive result is recorded as a continuity reserve for subsequent years. Article 13.3 of the bylaws states that when the decision to dissolve is taken, the destination of the liquidation balance will be determined, and that it will benefit an ANBI with a similar objective as the Public Food Foundation. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n

<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n

The 2024 annual report (in Dutch) can be downloaded here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n

You can download the 2024 ANBI form (in Dutch) here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n

The 2023 financial statements (in Dutch) can be downloaded here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n

<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n

<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ABOUT US Public Food is a food justice organization. We see food justice as the fight for public interests over commercial interests. How it all began Public Food was born in 2021 out of indignation about the way our current food system works. After all, why is food a commodity in the first place? Why […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2266","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAbout us | Public Food<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"ABOUT US Public Food is a food justice organization. We see food justice as the fight for public interests over commercial interests. How it all began\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/about-us\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"About us | Public Food\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ABOUT US Public Food is a food justice organization. We see food justice as the fight for public interests over commercial interests. How it all began\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/about-us\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Public Food\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-03T15:12:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/public-food-favicon.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1631\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/publicfood.org\\\/en\\\/about-us\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/publicfood.org\\\/en\\\/about-us\\\/\",\"name\":\"About us | Public Food\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/publicfood.org\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-01T13:09:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-03T15:12:31+00:00\",\"description\":\"ABOUT US Public Food is a food justice organization. We see food justice as the fight for public interests over commercial interests. How it all began\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/publicfood.org\\\/en\\\/about-us\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/publicfood.org\\\/en\\\/about-us\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/publicfood.org\\\/en\\\/about-us\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/publicfood.org\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"About us\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/publicfood.org\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/publicfood.org\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Public Food\",\"description\":\"Goed voedsel als basisvoorziening\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/publicfood.org\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/publicfood.org\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/publicfood.org\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Public Food\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/publicfood.org\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/publicfood.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/publicfood.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/public-food-favicon.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/publicfood.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/public-food-favicon.png\",\"width\":1631,\"height\":1630,\"caption\":\"Public Food\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/publicfood.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/public-food\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/mensa.mensa.food\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"About us | Public Food","description":"ABOUT US Public Food is a food justice organization. We see food justice as the fight for public interests over commercial interests. How it all began","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/about-us\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"About us | Public Food","og_description":"ABOUT US Public Food is a food justice organization. We see food justice as the fight for public interests over commercial interests. How it all began","og_url":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/about-us\/","og_site_name":"Public Food","article_modified_time":"2025-11-03T15:12:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1631,"height":1630,"url":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/public-food-favicon.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/about-us\/","url":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/about-us\/","name":"About us | Public Food","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-08-01T13:09:47+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-03T15:12:31+00:00","description":"ABOUT US Public Food is a food justice organization. We see food justice as the fight for public interests over commercial interests. How it all began","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/about-us\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/about-us\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/about-us\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"About us"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/","name":"Public Food","description":"Goed voedsel als basisvoorziening","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/#organization","name":"Public Food","url":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/public-food-favicon.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/public-food-favicon.png","width":1631,"height":1630,"caption":"Public Food"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/public-food","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/mensa.mensa.food\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2266"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2335,"href":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2266\/revisions\/2335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/publicfood.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}