Pennsylvania’s pay-what-you-can restaurants serve meals to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay.
Dining at a pay-what-you-can restaurant doesn’t feel too different from eating at a traditional one. Guests order from a menu and sit among neighbors and strangers doing the same. What makes the experience unique is how the bill works: Some guests pay the suggested price for their meal; others pay less; some pay more to support the restaurant; and some may not pay at all.
The model allows people from different economic circumstances to share the same dining experience and ensures that anyone in the community can enjoy a restaurant-quality meal, no matter their ability to pay.
Dozens of pay-what-you-can cafés and restaurants can be found across the country. Pennsylvania currently has at least three, with another expected to open later this year. Read on to learn where you can grab a great meal while supporting a community-minded mission.
Knead Community Cafe—New Kensington (Westmoreland County)
Location: 1011 Barnes Street, New Kensington
Knead Community Cafe has been serving western Pennsylvania as a pay-what-you-can restaurant since 2017. Located about 20 miles northeast of Pittsburgh in the small town of New Kensington (“New Ken” to locals), Knead has become a community institution in the town’s revitalized downtown, supported by community donations, grant money, and the discerning palates of regular diners.
The lunch menu features delectable main dishes like ravioli, salmon, tostadas, and shrimp pasta, as well as filling sandwiches, soups, and salads. Knead also offers breakfast on Saturdays. Guests can pay the suggested price of a meal, contribute more, or pay what they can afford.
In 2025, the cafe served more than 14,000 meals, made possible by more than 11,000 volunteer hours.
Café Esperanza—Reading (Berks County)
Location: 105 W. Greenwich Street, Reading
Berks County’s Café Esperanza is a pay-what-you-can coffee shop and restaurant serving the Reading community. Sponsored by Hope Lutheran Church of Reading, the cafe took years of planning before it launched in 2020—in the midst of a pandemic, when many residents were suddenly dropped into financial crisis and needed help. Café Esperanza’s official opening was delayed, but it still prepared meals for people in need during the shutdown.
The café, run by both volunteers and paid staff, serves breakfast and lunch, including sandwiches, soups, and regular specials, as well as coffee drinks and teas.
Essentials Cafe—Bethlehem (Lehigh County)
Location: 418 3rd Ave, Bethlehem
Essentials Cafe in Bethlehem is a pay-what-you-can community cafe that serves breakfast, lunch, and delicious baked goods. More than 100 volunteers and three paid staff members help offer items like breakfast platters, lasagna, soups, deli sandwiches, and local favorite Moravian sugar cake each day.
The nonprofit café, which opened in 2023, serves more than 1,000 meals each month, with about two-thirds served for free or below the suggested donation price and roughly a quarter paid above the suggested price. In addition, the café’s “wooden nickel” program allows guests to pay $12 to cover the cost of a meal for a future diner in need.
Essentials is part of the One World Everybody Eats network of pay-what-you-can restaurants.
Restaurants with pay-it-forward programs
Pay-what-you-can restaurants operate under a model very different from traditional restaurants—in fact, many are actually set up as nonprofits rather than businesses. And because these restaurants rely so heavily on community support, they can be difficult to sustain.
But while not every town or city has a pay-what-you-can café, some restaurants have found smaller ways to support diners in need. Indeed, many traditional restaurants across Pennsylvania have adopted programs that allow customers to “pay it forward” by paying a little extra to donate a meal or drink. Often, their purchase becomes a physical token or sticky note posted on a wall, which someone in need can later exchange for food or coffee. Donations are optional, and they’re on the customer, but these efforts still help restaurants create a more welcoming and inclusive space.
Here are some of the restaurants operating pay-it-forward programs in Pennsylvania.
Upcoming: Thrive Housing Services’ pay-what-you-can restaurant—Harrisburg (Dauphin County)
The Harrisburg nonprofit Thrive Housing Services is planning to open a pay-what-you-can restaurant in the capital city this fall, which the nonprofit hopes will be “a space where neighbors from all social-economic backgrounds can dine together.” The restaurant building will also be home to permanent housing units, intended for young adults experiencing housing instability who will have opportunities to work at the restaurant and develop hospitality skills.
Lehigh Pizza—Bethlehem (Northampton County)
Location: 13 W 3rd St, Bethlehem
Bethlehem’s Lehigh Pizza offers customers the option to donate $3 to cover a slice of pizza for someone in need, available via sticky notes posted at the restaurant that diners can redeem. Lehigh Pizza has operated its Pay It Forward Pizza program for more than a decade.
Nina’s II Pizza—Feasterville (Bucks County)
Location: 1748 Bridgetown Pike, Feasterville Trevose
Nina’s II Pizza in Bucks County launched a Pay It Forward initiative last fall that allows customers to donate food or drink items to another member of the community. The prepaid items (different meals and drinks) are written on sticky notes and posted on a board in the restaurant, ready for diners in need to take and redeem.
The Hart of Catering & Cafe—Philadelphia
Location: 2101 Sansom Street, Philadelphia
As part of a Philadelphia community initiative, the Hart of Catering & Cafe enables customers to purchase meals or snacks for future diners, redeemable via sticky notes in the restaurant. Hart of Catering & Cafe staff work with Philadelphia’s Welcome Church and the city’s homeless outreach team to raise awareness about the pay-it-forward program.
The Common Good—Pittsburgh
Location: 501 Grant St., Union Trust Building, Pittsburgh
The Common Good, a new fast-casual breakfast and lunch spot in downtown Pittsburgh, started a pay-it-forward program through which customers can donate to fund “Common Good Meals.”
Little Mamma’s Pizza—Bellefonte (Centre County)
Location: Inside the Titan Market, 2042 Axemann Road, Bellefonte
Little Mamma’s Pizza, which moved from Pleasant Gap to Bellefonte’s Titan Market last fall, allows guests to purchase “Pay-It-Forward” meals for future guests in need. Prepaid meals are represented by notes on the restaurant’s Pay-It-Forward wall and are available to anyone in need of a meal.
Cold Friends Kitchen—Pittsburgh
Location: 2120 Jane Street, Pittsburgh
Cold Friends Kitchen, a Pittsburgh food truck that serves scratch-made comfort food at Velum Fermentation in the South Side and inside Lawrenceville’s New Amsterdam, has served hundreds of its “Pay It Forward” menu items to people in need. Most are donated by the food truck’s customers, who pay a reduced price for a donated meal (usually a burger and fries). But Cold Friends also doesn’t turn away anyone hungry.
Coffee Days Co.—Titusville (Crawford County)
Location: 406 W Oak St, Titusville
Local Titusville coffee shop Coffee Days Co., located inside Titusville Area Hospital, recently installed a “Pay It Forward” bulletin board, where it posts drink orders that customers have donated for a future guest in need. “If you need a little pick-me-up, everyone is welcome to one order from the board!” the shop posted on Facebook. “No questions or judgment, just bring whatever drink card you’d like up and we can prepare it for you.”
