New Social Enterprise, The Town Kitchen, To Provide Locally-Sourced Lunches and Fair-Wage Jobs to At-Risk Youth
Community-driven food company raising funds for commercial kitchen where youth will prepare lunches for Oakland and San Francisco companies
OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The box lunch, a staple of meetings and events, is being reinvented in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Town Kitchen is a new community-driven food company that will connect low-income Oakland youth, aged 16-24, with local chefs and artisans to plan, prepare, box, and deliver curbside lunches. The Town Kitchen's crowdfunding campaign will raise funds to lease commercial kitchen space for its youth development program.
With the youth unemployment rate in West Oakland at nearly 35%, according to the Brookings Institution, The Town Kitchen enables businesses in Oakland and San Francisco to contribute to the community while serving delicious lunches.
"We're excited to try The Town Kitchen's lunches and to support local youth in gaining marketable job skills," said Marshall Langfeld, SVP of Finance and CFO of Telecare Corporation. "We have nearly 50 years of investment in the East Bay and we're proud to work with organizations that are making a difference in our community."
The Town Kitchen has a unique set of partnerships to employ, empower, and educate low-income youth and build the market for locally-produced food. Partners include:
Institute for Sustainable Economic, Environmental and Educational Design (I-SEEED) and Youth Social Entrepreneurship for Economic Development (Youth SEED) to create curriculum on food entrepreneurship and social justice that will be offered for credit at San Francisco State University and other colleges.
Sugar Knife Sweets, Kika's Treats, Slow Jams, and other local food artisans to offer side dishes and drinks.
"We soft-launched the Community Lunchbox earlier this year and we're pleased that 90% of the people we served said that they would like to order lunches from us when we're operational," said Sabrina Mutukisna, founder of The Town Kitchen.
The Town Kitchen's crowdfunding campaign will support mentorship between Bay Area youth, local chefs, and artisan food makers. Tote bags, youth-designed recipe books, and mugs are among the incentives for participating.
About The Town Kitchen
The Town Kitchen (http://www.thetownkitchen.org) is a community-driven food company that connects chefs, youth, and food entrepreneurs to corporations. The Town Kitchen community addresses a need within the Bay Area for locally-sourced lunches, fair-wage jobs and youth training programs.
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-social-enterprise-the-town-kitchen-to-provide-locally-sourced-lunches-and-fair-wage-jobs-to-at-risk-youth-300000918.html
SOURCE The Town Kitchen
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