Raleigh's A Place at the Table to be featured on NBC's Today Show
Raleigh’s only pay-what-you-can café will be getting national attention this week.
A Place at the Table, which opened in January in the old Café de Los Muertos space at 300 W. Hargett St., will be featured on NBC’s Today Show between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. Monday.
The segment for the Today Show was filmed at the downtown Raleigh café last week, a spokesperson said.
A Place at the Table’s pay-what-you-can model allows people to pay in one of five ways:
- pay what they can afford
- pay a suggested donation
- pay what they would typically pay, plus a donation
- pay specifically for someone else’s full meal
- pay by volunteering
The restaurant is able to stay open because other customers choose to pay more for their meals and cover the cost of food. This summer the owners said 80 percent of their customers have paid the suggested price or more.
Since opening in January, A Place at the Table has served 27,660 meals, more than 5,000 of which were free. The face has received pay-it-forward donations in the amount of $92,966 from more than 17,000 people.
Maggie Kane, founder and executive director of A Place at the Table, is a North Carolina State University graduate and was recently honored with the school’s “Outstanding Young Alumna Award.”
