Support Food + Beverage Workers Affected by the Texas Hill Country Floods

Our hearts are with everyone in the Texas Hill Country.

Southern Smoke provides financial relief during the recovery phase of disasters. We’ve committed $150,000 to support affected F+B workers and are prepared to do more. Sysco will match up to $15,000 in donations to amplify our impact.

The Hill Country Relief Fund application will open August 15. For urgent needs like medical or funeral expenses, F+B workers can apply now through our existing relief fund. Our Behind You program also offers no cost counseling to F+B workers.

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Benchawan
Chef Image
Jabthong Painter
Houston, TX /
Street to Kitchen
WHERE WILL I BE COOKING:

Since learning how to cook in her grandmother’s neighborhood restaurant in Central Thailand, Benchawan Jabthong Painter has been a natural chef. After marrying her husband Graham, Painter moved to Houston in 2015 and jumped into the city’s food scene, bringing her deep knowledge of Thai cuisine to restaurants like Saltair and Theodore Rex. In 2020, the Painters opened Street to Kitchen, which features all-scratch-made Thai foods rooted in her grandmother’s recipes and techniques. Their second restaurant in collaboration with Chef David Skinner, The Preserve at Eculent, opened in 2023 in Kemah, Texas. Painter won the 2023 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Texas. 

Generously supported by Chaiyo! (ไชโย)