DC Central Kitchen's Robert Egger Announces Departure and Plans to Launch LA Kitchen in 2013

Last night at the DC Central Kitchen's annual Capital Food Fight, founder and president Robert Egger surprised the audience with the announcement that he's leaving the non-profit he founded in 1989 and moving to Los Angeles to launch the LA Kitchen. Yes, to audible dismay in the crowd, Egger explained that the influential community kitchen has reached a strong point at which it can thrive without its founder. He further announced that CEO Mike Curtin will run the show going forward and also reminisced about his decades with DC Central Kitchen:

"By any measure, I've had a tremendous run. I got to meet presidents, I got to be on Oprah, I got to chill with José, I got to make a good friend out of José and many other chefs. I've had the honor of watching thousands of men and women go from a place few can imagine and graduate from the DC Central Kitchen."

Egger will open the LA Kitchen in 2013, with plans to continue a mission of preventing waste by stabilizing the "millions upon millions of pounds" of fruit and vegetables thrown away each year in California. Here's a video in which Egger further explains the LA Kitchen's mission, which he says is "equally as bold as the DC Central Kitchen, but taken to a very different level."

Video: LA Kitchen

· LA Kitchen [Vimeo]
· DC Central Kitchen [Official Site]
· All Previous DC Central Kitchen Coverage [-EDC-]

[Photo: Amy McKeever/Eater.com]