As U.S. restaurants close to limit the spread of COVID-19, celebrity Chef Jose Andres is turning some of his Washington D.C.-area establishments into "community kitchens."

"By changing the name of restaurants to community kitchens, people understand this is an emergency situation and people will have access to a plate of food," Andres said.

Through his World Central Kitchen non-profit organization he has responded to disasters around the world and is now preparing for what may become a widespread food emergency across the U.S. as more areas are shut down.

We can't have major big kitchens producing food for entire cities, because chances that things go wrong are very big, so it's better to have little restaurants like we saw in Wuhan all across cities in very specific areas making sure that every area is covered," Anders said. 

There will be no sit-down service. Food will be packaged "to go" and distributed from side doors of restaurants. People waiting in line will keep a two-meter distance from each other. 

Chef Andres calls his employees "Food First Responders." He is beginning his "Community Kitchen" project with a handful of his restaurants in the Washington D.C. area and in New York but he hopes others will use this model across the U.S.