If ingenuity, creativity, hustle and hard work were the only keys to successful entrepreneurship, all 82 businesses currently incubating and operating out of FEED Kitchens would fulfill their dreams and the products made here would all find their way to store shelves and kitchens across our region. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

The belief that individuals or communities just need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and work hard to find success is simply a myth. Bootstrapping qualities already exist in our communities and neighborhoods, and if those qualities were all it takes to move up, our community would look a lot different. FEED Kitchens prides itself on working with entrepreneurs who have all the personal success characteristics but lack access to social and financial capital to invest in their talent and ideas. To put it more plainly, access to opportunity. Folks interested in FEED Kitchens regularly ask why it’s important to make donations and support FEED when folks inside the building are operating businesses and making their own living. When you begin to understand the long-term effects of whole communities being isolated from access to resources, it is easier to see why supports are needed. Hard work and grit are a good start but access to equipment, capital, technology, bureaucracy, industry information, and emotional support are what ultimately leads to success. And that is what we supply at FEED Kitchens. Currently 66% of the businesses operating out of FEED are owned by people of color and 55% are owned by women, two groups that have historically been denied access to opportunity. Sliced another way, just over 50% of the businesses are owned by low to low/moderate income individuals who lack deep networks of support outside of FEED Kitchens. Combined with their natural desire to do better, the support that FEED Kitchens offers these entrepreneurs gives each one a better chance of success, and gives our community a stronger, much more flavorful, local food system.