Mike Curtin
CEO, DC Central Kitchen - Washington, D.C.
Mike Curtin, Jr. joined DC Central Kitchen in 2004, taking over as Chief Executive Officer of the country’s first community kitchen from founder Robert Egger in 2007. He came to the organization after a 20-year career in the hospitality sector that included owning and operating his own restaurant, The Broad Street Grill, in Falls Church, Virginia. Drawing on that industry experience, Curtin has grown DCCK’s social enterprise portfolio into thriving initiatives that generate well over $16 million in annual earnings, allowing DC Central Kitchen to more than match every donation it receives with earned revenue.
Curtin has led the organization through the Great Recession, the COVID-19 pandemic, and significant periods of organizational growth and expansion. His focus on ‘good business’ solutions that create meaningful careers for DC Central Kitchen culinary graduates has helped the Kitchen consistently earn over half its annual budget through social enterprise activities and sustain over 300 full-time, living wage jobs. Along the way, he has championed industry-leading, innovative practices around internal staff development and accessible career tracks, comprehensive benefits and fair schedules that sustain pathways out of poverty. In 2006, he undertook an eight-day public fast to call attention to the often-undervalued role of nonprofits in our community, which led to the Kitchen’s first major social enterprise contract with the District of Columbia.
While directing DC Central Kitchen’s front-line response to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, he also drove a successful transition to an iconic new headquarters in southwest DC. Now the nation’s most ambitious and innovative community kitchen and urban food hub, The Michael R. Klein Center for Jobs and Justice represents the fulfillment of Mike Curtin’s vision for the role nonprofits and social enterprises can and must play in inclusive economic development models that generate lasting community returns.
