Our Big Kitchen Los Angeles was announced as the 2026 California nonprofit of the year. Providing meals to 73 charities, OBK works to fight food insecurity in Los Angeles.
Founded in 2020 by Yossi and Chaya Segelman, OBK is located on Pico Blvd in Mid City and prepares 200,000 meals per year. Due to Los Angeles’ high rate of food insecurity, with one in four people facing hunger, the Segelmans saw a need to aid their community and make a difference in people’s lives. They now hold group events for schools and corporate companies as well as weekly volunteering opportunities open to people of all ages. Volunteers prepare nutritious meals by rolling meatballs, chopping vegetables and making cookies, which then get distributed to charities in need.
The Oracle sat down with founder Yossi Segelman to reflect on OBK’s accomplishments and to learn about the process of starting a nonprofit.
How did OBK start?
Yossi Segelman [YS]: In 2020, our family decided to get together in honor of our son’s wedding — so August 2020 — and we prepared 150 meals for a local charity at my brother-in-law’s shuttered restaurant, and it felt really good doing that. We did that one week, we did that two weeks, and on the third week, we posted something on Instagram, and the rest is history. People messaged us; they wanted to get involved, and we started opening it up to more people, opening up expanding the bubble. And we moved into our new space — or current space — in February 2022. And since we started, the six volunteers have welcomed over 17,000 volunteers to OBK, and it’s become a hub for goodness and kindness in the city. It was never intended to be what it was today. A friend of mine started the concept in Australia about 20 years ago, and I’m one of the founding directors — we used to live in Australia — so I’m one of the founding directors of the organization in Australia. So we always wanted to do something here, so we did it here, and then it became our full-time activity. We now have 25 staff and lots going on.
What are the challenges to starting an organization?
[YS]: In a nutshell, when you start an organization, you have to do everything. So at the beginning, we were setting up, packing down, cleaning up, taking the registrations, doing everything, and that was a lot because we also had full-time jobs at the time. So the challenges when you grow an organization is you got to do a lot yourself, but as you grow, another challenge is to be able to delegate to other good people, so to be able to hire the right people. Then you need, obviously, the funding to expand, and then you reach a certain point where it has a flywheel, so it just takes off and has the momentum. But then the challenge is to keep the standard, to make sure that absolutely every single group that comes through is getting the same five-star welcome and treatment, and that the meals are absolutely beautiful, and that the charity partners, the distribution, remains intact and is strong. So at every point, there are different challenges.
Why does OBK specifically make meatballs, veggies and cookies?
[YS]: Most of it has to do with the reality that the volunteers are doing most of the work. So they need to — it needs to be items that volunteers can roll out or chop or be involved in. The whole point here, and the way we’re able to do it at such low cost and at such volume, is because of the items that we’ve chosen. So we very carefully curate the items and select the items that are volunteer-friendly and efficient to cook. So easy, quick to cook, not a lot of skill required to make it and easy to pack. That’s the criteria. We’re always developing the items, but that’s the key criteria.
What is OBK’s impact?
[YS]: Two impacts that we’ve heard of directly — there’s really three parts of it — when you volunteer at OBK, there’s three things happening. One, the volunteer is getting a great experience…the recipients are getting a beautiful meal, and the third part is the organizations don’t have to pay for the meals. So they’re getting food for free. So we’re like the cloud kitchen for these agencies, for these nonprofits. So, an example of the of direct impact, this is the most simplest way, is Food on Foot, a beautiful organization has been providing meals every Sunday lunchtime. And they used to pay for those meals, say $10 to $15 a meal, right? So, as a result of us giving them 300 meals for free every Sunday, they were able to save that money and house 11 people in a shelter in 2025. So that’s practical impact in terms of the savings. In terms of the meals, this has meant that people doing it tough have access now to a beautiful, fresh meal. Whether they’re on Skid Row or they’re at home recovering from cancer treatment, or whether it’s a family doing it tough, they now take the limited money that they have and can pay their rent, and then we can provide them with a meal. And then the third impact here is people who can’t afford to eat meat. Some people haven’t had meat in a very long time. This is their opportunity to get a beautiful meat meal, a chicken meal, made with a lot of love.
Why is volunteering at OBK a meaningful experience?
[YS]: It’s because you feel when you walk into OBK that you’re welcome, that you’re making a difference, there’s something for you to do, your time is being spent wisely, you’re being appreciated. And it’s hitting somewhere. It’s like replacing the cell phone for two hours. It’s giving a feeling of doing good, which feels good. And the chocolate chip cookies taste really good.
