Our Kitchen continues Christmas breakfast tradition with Simpson shelter guests
For over a decade, the owners of Our Kitchen have opened their south Minneapolis diner to guests of Simpson’s shelter on Christmas morning. Husband-and-wife team Danny and Oksana Ziegler generously shared their hospitality and home-cooked meals with shelter guests again in 2023.
Our Kitchen is a Minneapolis neighborhood restaurant that has offered a welcoming atmosphere and delicious fare to guests since 1941. Danny’s grandfather purchased the restaurant in 1971, and Danny has owned the family business for the last 27 years.
Danny first connected with Simpson through Brian Bozeman, a former Simpson shelter manager, who wished to host a special activity for shelter guests on Christmas Day. Brian described how the tradition got started: “[Danny] asked me…‘What do the guests do for breakfast?’ And I said, ‘Well, we usually have cereal.’ And he said, ‘Bring them here.’ And so since then, we’ve been doing it every Christmas.”
Every year, Brian and other volunteers bring 60 or 70 Simpson shelter guests to enjoy a free meal at Our Kitchen. Shelter guests can order anything they want off the menu. Breakfast is served cooked to order by the personable and kind-hearted Zieglers. Danny teams up with another Minneapolis business, Patisserie 46, to provide pastries and treats for the annual breakfast. Our Kitchen customers also provide financial donations to help cover the cost of food for the meal.
Simpson staff and guests are grateful to Danny and Oksana for their generosity and lasting partnership. “One of our values at Simpson is the creation of a collaborative community. Danny and Oksana are representative of the powerful community that surrounds or our work,” says Simpson’s Executive Director Steve Horsfield.
