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About
Staff
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Welcome to Big Big Table!

Big Big Table Community Café is a lunchtime restaurant open to EVERYBODY!

We are focused on serving delicious, nutritious, meals while at the same time championing healthy, local food options, addressing food insecurity, reducing food waste, and supporting community. 

At a traditional restaurant, a guest is asked to exchange money for their meal. At Big Big Table, guests are invited to exchange money, time, or groceries in exchange for their meal. Our pay-as-you-can model strives to promote healthy individuals and communities

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Big Big Table Community Café, Inc. is a member of

One World Everybody Eats.

Why Pay-as-you-can?

At Big Big Table, Everybody has a chance to give what they can to get what they need!

The number one goal of Big Big Table is to feed everyone who walks through the door. Around the United States, Community Cafés provide a dignified response to hunger, increasing access to healthy food and improving food security for everyone, especially the most vulnerable, in our community.

 

The restaurant menu has a suggested donation amount. Some will pay more, some will pay less. Others provide non-financial contributions, including volunteering their time or bringing groceries to help us achieve our mission while also validating that Everybody has a contribution to make.

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Big Big Table Staff

Big Big Table's café team is an incredibly talented group of compassionate and
community-minded administration, staff, and volunteers.

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Maddie Collins

Community & Operations Director

Maddie (they/them) joined the Big Big Table team in October 2023 and has been happily bogarting the small window table by the coffee station ever since.

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An AmeriCorps alum, grad school survivor, and community enthusiast, Maddie boasts an ... "eclectic" resume—from building luxurious “glamping” campsites (yes, really) and rebuilding homes in New Orleans to diving into research and community-building with various nonprofits.

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They are thrilled to have made their way back to the "City of Good Neighbors" and are eager to contribute to Buffalo living up to that name. 

 

When not at Big Big Table, you can usually find them singing showtunes way too late into the evening with their loving fiancée or hiking all over WNY with their two dogs.

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If you spot them at the café (most likely at that small window table, humming furiously to themselves), stop by and say hi! They’d love to chat about showtunes, national parks, or karaoke over some tea and pastries.

THERESA DEMPSTER

Chef & Kitchen Manager

After leaving the mysterious and lucrative life of a pre-school teacher, Theresa decided to completely switch careers, go back to school, and become a pastry chef. After graduating from Niagara Falls Culinary Institute, Theresa has held glamourous and dangerous baking jobs around the city of Buffalo before joining the BBT team in October of 2021. She is able to cook and bake and kitchen manage and dish wash and coffee drink and laugh every day. It also gives her time to  perfect her sweet ninja moves. Big Big Table has given her the opportunity to bring together what she is most passionate about; food and helping others. Theresa’s love of baking comes from her family; without family, she wouldn’t be who she is today. She loves to share her recipes and traditions as well as learn about new ones.

 

When she isn't at Big Big Table, she is often seen having dance parties or lightsaber battles with her 6-year-old Star Wars enthusiast son, Nathan, and her 5-time D&D National Champion husband, Matt. They are her heart. She loves all things having to do with baking, the Buffalo Bills, the New York Mets, The Barenaked Ladies, Harry Potter (Hufflepuff), Doctor Who, all things Scotland, good coffee, reading, Ada & Barnum, her extended family whether by blood or by love, Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson movies, and of course, bread. She absolutely will bring a veggie tray. 

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JULIE PRANIKOFF

Chef & Partnerships Coordinator

Julie joined the Big Big Table team as we always imagined a new teammate would - by being a regular volunteer first! 

 

As a plant-based chef, cooking allows Julie to combine her background in health and environmental psychology with her love of food. Her education in the social and physical aspects of space that affect well-being has led to an interest in the role that access to nutrient-dense, delicious, fresh food can play in the creation and maintenance of a supportive environment. 

 

When she's not laughing and having a great time in the kitchen, she is busy spreading the word about BBT and connecting with other local organizations that can be of support to our guests.  

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In addition to her roles at the café, Julie is an exceptional mom to two incredible young people (hi, young people!) and a partner to a great guy (hi Mike!). 

Big Big Table Community Café Inc.
Board of Directors

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  • Stephanie Smith, President

Owner & Consultant, Smith, Nadbrzuch, & Associates Inc.

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  • Dana Epstein, Vice President
     Senior Manager, Channel Sales - Commvault Systems Inc.

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  • Allison Hyman, Secretary

Educator & Advocate, Factotum Consulting

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  • Matthew Taboni, Treasurer

JD/MBA Student, University at Buffalo

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  • Mandy Bailey
       Founding Chef
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  • Jesse Anaya

Community Advisor & Advocate
 

  • Karl Johnson

​Lexus Club Sous Chef, Delaware North

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  • Trueman Muhrer-Irwin

​Purple Heart Veteran; Manager - Hatchet & Hops

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  • Molly Rich Lambros

Community Volunteer & Advocate​

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  • Stephanie Mejia, EMPA

Community Advisor & Advocate​

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  • Payam Mohseni

Insurance Professional & Food Waste Advocate​

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  • Morgan Stewart

UB Masters in Urban Planning

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Board
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