Latest news with #ChrisKolstad
Toronto Sun
7 days ago
- General
- Toronto Sun
Pizzeria owner sees people eat from dumpster, goes viral for free meal offer
Published Aug 07, 2025 • 4 minute read Pizza Man said it left a box of cheese pizza behind its store in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, on July 29 for someone who was taking leftovers from the dumpster. MUST CREDIT: Pizza Man jpg Chris Kolstad had enough of people grabbing leftovers from the dumpster behind his pizza shop and eating them. He posted on Facebook telling them to stop. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Just ask for a pizza, he said. No one should be eating from the garbage. 'Leave me a note,' Kolstad wrote on Facebook, 'and we will find a way to leave any extras or mistakes out back so you have something to eat without going through the trash.' Kolstad's act of kindness went viral, and comments from customers and strangers poured in offering to help. So in addition to giving away dozens of pizzas, he began raising money – more than $3,000 so far – for Minnesota food banks, pantries and shelters. Minnesota news channel WCCO first reported the story. Kolstad's response was a sharp contrast from business owners and city officials who have used music, legal battles and fencing in attempts to deter the homeless and loiterers. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Nobody is going to be eating out of a dumpster because it's what they want to do,' Kolstad, 39, told The Washington Post. 'Usually if somebody's going to that length, they're trying to survive. And I have a hard time sitting in a building full of food knowing that.' Kolstad said people have eaten from the dumpster since he took over Pizza Man in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, in 2020. But in late July, he said, he noticed it happening more often. While wild animals ravage food when they get into the dumpster, Kolstad found once-full boxes with two pieces of pizza still sitting neatly inside. There were often empty water bottles and used napkins nearby, too. From left, Mayor Amáda Márquez Simula, Pizza Man owner Chris Kolstad, Pizza Man employee Ryan Beatt and city employee Mitch Forney in front of Pizza Man in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, in May 2024. MUST CREDIT: City of Columbia Heights jpg The uptick in dumpster visitors aligned with an increase in food insecurity in the Minneapolis area, said Dave Rudolph, co-director of Southern Anoka Community Assistance, a food pantry in Columbia Heights. Rudolph blamed, in part, an increase in prices for food and other products. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'We're seeing more and more new people all the time,' Rudolph said. 'We've never seen new people like this.' The Food Group, a Minnesota nonprofit that aims to relieve hunger, found a similar trend. Minnesotans visited food pantries nearly 9 million times last year, 1.4 million more visits than in 2023, the group said. Kolstad previously made efforts to curb the problem. He gave away pizza when school cafeterias closed during the coronavirus pandemic and helped raise money for Southern Anoka Community Assistance when it faced a funding shortage in 2023, according to the city of Columbia Heights. But none of those acts went viral like when Kolstad wrote on Facebook on July 29 that people in need of food could reach out for a free meal. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Kolstad said that although he doesn't vet the requesters to ensure they're in need, people haven't taken advantage of his offer. MUST CREDIT: Pizza Man jpg 'If you are too embarrassed to ask, find a way to call us and ask if there is a way to leave a small cheese pizza outside the back door or something,' Kolstad wrote. That night, Kolstad posted a picture of a white and red box of cheese pizza sitting on a plastic box near the dumpster, intended for the person who had been recently visiting. As the post resonated online, Kolstad said he would use Venmo donations to give away pizzas and assist food pantries. 'It's just crazy to me how something very basic and what just feels like the human thing to do turned into such a huge thing,' Kolstad told The Post. Missy Hines, who has bought frozen bacon and chicken pizzas from Pizza Man at a discount for more than two years, said she donated $250. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Chris would literally put himself in the hole to make sure everybody got fed,' said Hines, 43. In the past week, a handful of people have messaged the shop on Facebook, explaining their situation and asking for free pizza, Kolstad said. The shop has given away about 50 pizzas and has placed a pie near its back door every night. Plus, employees have taken large cheese pizzas to nearby parks where some homeless people sleep, Kolstad said. While Kolstad doesn't vet the requesters to ensure they're in need, he said, people haven't taken advantage of his offer. 'If somebody's coming in asking for a small cheese pizza or something, realistically, that costs us next to nothing,' Kolstad said, 'and I feel like that cost is less than [hurting] someone's dignity.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. On Sunday, the shop said it received an unsigned note thanking employees for quickly responding to their Facebook message about their family's struggles to afford food. 'What you guys are doing is amazing,' the note said, according to a photo of it posted on the shop's Facebook page. The shop gave $120 of its donations to Southern Anoka Community Assistance on Tuesday and plans to donate more in upcoming weeks. Pizza Man isn't a 'soup kitchen,' Kolstad said, but the shop will put aside about $20 per day from its donations to give away pizzas. The publicity has also helped Kolstad's once struggling business, as orders have picked up since his social media post took off. He's glad about the extra traffic in his shop but said he's not losing sight of the need in his community. 'If you have things you won't eat, donate them,' Kolstad wrote on Facebook on Monday. 'When you go to the store, maybe spend an extra $5 on things to donate.' 'We can't fix all the world's problems,' he concluded. 'But if enough of us take small steps we can reduce them a little at a time.' Toronto Maple Leafs World Columnists Editorial Cartoons Celebrity
Washington Post
7 days ago
- General
- Washington Post
Pizzeria owner sees people eat from dumpster, goes viral for free meal offer
Chris Kolstad had enough of people grabbing leftovers from the dumpster behind his pizza shop and eating them. He posted on Facebook telling them to stop. Just ask for a pizza, he said. No one should be eating from the garbage. 'Leave me a note,' Kolstad wrote on Facebook, 'and we will find a way to leave any extras or mistakes out back so you have something to eat without going through the trash.'
CBS News
01-08-2025
- General
- CBS News
Twin Cities "Pizza Man" inspiring community to fight hunger, one pie at a time
By WCCO reporter Ashley Grams It's no surprise the number of people who need help affording food is also on the rise. That's got one small business in the Twin Cities hungry to help in a unique way. The owner of Pizza Man in Columbia Heights is offering free pie to those struggling in his neighborhood. "[We] have seen people eating out of our dumpsters and, I don't know how else to phrase it, we don't want someone to have to live that way," said owner Chris Kolstad. Kolstad posted on Facebook earlier this week, letting his followers know about the dumpster divers and efforts to help them out. Staff is now leaving a pizza out back after they close. "Hey, if you're out here doing this you can come talk to me," Kolstad said. "We're sitting in a building full of food 24/7, it's hard to watch somebody eat out of your garbage can." Kolstad says hundreds of people have reached out, wanting to support his efforts. He started gathering donations, with plans to cover the cost of pizzas and donate to local food banks. "We're going to do a little grocery run this weekend and pick up a bunch of stuff deliver it to a couple different food banks," Kolstad said. "We'll be leaving some available for when people walk in and talk to us." Nonprofits in Minnesota say the need for food security is rising. A report from the Food Group says Minnesotans made 9 million visits to food shelves in 2024, which was 1.4 million more visits than the year before. "It's just ever-increasing numbers of people are just showing up," said Dave Rudolph, co-director of SACA Food Shelf in Columbia Heights. "It's seniors, it's adults, it's younger adults, people come in with kids." SACA says the number of people using their services has increased over the past four years, rising from 51,600 individuals in 2021 to 68,100 last year. Rudolph says they're on track to serve even more people this year. "A lot of them are looking for produce and proteins, those are some of the more expensive things," Rudolph said, adding the food shelf always accepts monetary and food donations. For Kolstad, it's about using what you have to help others. 'There's what, 7 billion people in the world, if everybody can make a little tiny difference, it's monumentally better every day." Kolstad plans to make a grocery run this weekend using the donations, and will then make some deliveries to local food banks.
