Did You Know the Central Texas Food Bank Cooks Hundreds of Thousands of Meals Each Year?
Ask Artie Lampkin what it takes to prepare hundreds of meals in a day, and he’ll tell you the cooking isn’t necessarily the hard part.
“Cooking is easy, but prepping, that's the hard part.”
Long before becoming a Meal Production Cook at the Central Texas Food Bank (CTFB), Artie built a career in kitchens designed to feed a crowd. He’s worked in high-volume food service for decades, including operations that served thousands of people at a time.
These days, he brings that experience to a kitchen that might surprise people who think they know what happens at a food bank.
Because yes, we cook here. A lot.
Experience Built for a Busy Kitchen
On a busy day, Artie and CTFB’s culinary team may prepare as many as 800 meals. But Artie’s day starts well before anything is ready to serve.
There are workstations to organize, supplies to gather, ingredients to prep and equipment to ready. Depending on the production schedule, an entire day might be devoted to getting food ready to cook the next.
After decades in professional kitchens, Artie has learned how small changes can make a big job easier. He enjoys passing those lessons along to his coworkers, whether that means showing someone a more efficient way to tackle a task or helping the team get organized before the work begins.
Artie has plenty of experience to share. Before CTFB, he worked in large-scale food service, including the convention center. Earlier in his career, he cooked at St. Edward’s University during the Dallas Cowboys’ training camp years, helping prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner for the team.
Feeding a crowd doesn’t faze him.
A "Meat and Potatoes" Guy
Ask Artie what he wants for dinner, though, and things get considerably simpler.
He’s a self-described meat-and-potatoes kind of guy. His “last-meal” order is a ribeye with a baked potato, topped with nothing more complicated than salt, pepper and butter.
But cooking for CTFB means thinking far beyond his own tastes.
“People eat with their eyes,” Artie said.
And the meals coming out of CTFB’s kitchen have to do more than look and taste good. They also need to meet specific nutritional, caloric or cultural needs.
In FY 2026, CTFB's culinary team prepared over 300,000 meals, including more than 390 different meal varieties. That variety has become increasingly important as CTFB expands its Food Is Medicine work, including medically tailored meals designed around specific nutritional needs.
In FY 2026 alone, CTFB launched two new Medically Tailored Meal programs, providing more than 17,000 meals to nearly 400 patients.
It's a side of food banking Artie didn't know existed before coming here.
In fact, before applying to CTFB, he didn't know the food bank cooked meals onsite at all. Since joining the team, he's learned just how much happens beyond the food distributions most people associate with a food bank, from preparing meals to operating pantries to picking up and delivering food throughout Central Texas.
That bigger picture reflects CTFB’s approach to building a more food-secure Central Texas. Food distribution is essential, but hunger is connected to other parts of our lives, including health, education and economic opportunity. Through our Food Is Medicine work, we're strengthening one of those connections by using nutritious food to support health and well-being.
Bringing a Career's Worth of Experience to CTFB
There is one thing about CTFB that Artie definitely wasn't used to: leaving the kitchen by 5:00 p.m.
Nights and weekends off? In the food business, Artie says, that's practically unheard of.
The more traditional daytime schedule means Artie gets to keep doing what he's spent decades doing while having his evenings at home with his family.
“I just enjoy cooking,” he said.
For culinary professionals who feel the same way, CTFB is hiring. Explore current career opportunities at the Central Texas Food Bank to find ways to put your food-service experience to work for your community, including culinary roles with daytime schedules.
As for Artie, his experience and willingness to share it haven't gone unnoticed. His teammates recently selected him as the Central Texas Food Bank's Team Member of the Month, recognizing the skill, support and steady presence he brings to the kitchen every day.
