MADISON, Wis. — A Madison-area top chef is serving up a first: a delicious new pay-what-you-can restaurant partnership with the Madison Children’s Museum.

Little John’s Chef Dave Heide and his team make nutritious, made from scratch kid-friendly options, and then they offer those inside a self-service cafe right in front of the museum. He said this effort will help the community fight food insecurity.

“If you don’t get food for families and kids like, what are we doing wrong, right? If we’re in the like, wealthiest community in Wisconsin, and we’re not making sure that our families, our kids are fed, like we’re failing,” Heide said about the first in the country program.

“It’s a mission,” Madison Children’s Museum spokesperson Jonathan Zarov said. “It’s from the heart, it’s love.”

He doesn’t suspect the model will make much money — but that doesn’t matter.

“You get great comments from people who say, ‘This was so important to me, that I could feed my kids today, and I so appreciate that, you know, we’re on a budget,’” he said. “And you also get people that say, ‘I so appreciate that you’re doing this for the community,’ Like, no family should go without. Right?”

Weekly, Little John’s creates roughly 17,000 meals for schools, Meals on Wheels and the homeless all across the Dane County area. Those interested can learn more about how to support them at https://www.littlejohnskitchens.org.