Jen Hidinger-Kendrick

Board Member (2025)

Jen, along with her late husband, Chef Ryan Hidinger, is a founder of Giving Kitchen (GK), a James Beard Award-winning national non-profit helping food service workers in crisis. She advises on brand awareness and community involvement while providing a personal account in telling the story of GK to audiences near and far.

While Jen is in her first year as an ANCS Board member, she is a passionate community member sharing her time in impactful ways throughout Atlanta, including currently serving on the Board of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau (ACVB) and is a Leadership Atlanta alumni as well as a current LEAD Atlanta Mentor.

Jen is also a co-founder of the acclaimed Staplehouse Restaurant and was a key member of the team that earned Bon Appétit magazine’s Best New Restaurant in America and a nomination as Best New Restaurant by the James Beard Foundation in 2016. She joined the staff of Giving Kitchen full-time in 2019, and focuses her time as a lead fundraiser and Founder.

The ANCS mission and dynamic learning community to help shape our youth into “global citizens” is what pulled Jen’s interest into serving on the board and what really makes the ANCS community stand out.

Jen finds joy in home entertaining and dining inside the amazing culinary scene around Atlanta. She lives with her husband John Wayne Kendrick, their son Blue, and dog Goonie.