Brewed Fresh Daily

Alright. If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you'll know I like cooking, going out to eat, trying different foods, etc. So that's why this idea should be of no surprise to you. I was watching The Food Channel yesterday. On their The Best of Hot Lunch Spots show, they featured FareStart:

FareStart transforms the lives of homeless and disadvantaged men and women, building self-sufficiency through job training and placement in the food services industry, transforming our community so that all have a sense of belonging, enrichment, and hope. Our mission is to create a place where:

• All experience the power of contributing, the gift of giving and the joy of helping.
• All have access to the resources and opportunities necessary to flourish through gainful employment.
• All people in our diverse community realize their full potential.
• "Homelessness", "hunger", "loneliness" and "hopelessness" do not exist in our communities.

There's nothing that brings people together more than food. Cooking, eating, celebrating, recalling our ethnicity, all of traditions revolve around food.

So here's the Big Idea: Train people to be food service entrepreneurs! Whether it's Coffee Shops, Pastry Chefs, Restauranteurs, Sous Chefs, Chirzo Sausauge Stuffers, whatever! Show 'em how to can pickels! Teach inner city kids how to make, package, distribute, profit from making their Grandma's Sweet Potatoe Pie. Anything! Get them to figure out a better way to make potatoe chips or something.

Think about it. How many restaurants are in the Northeast Ohio region? How many different ethnic groups that have their own wonderful regional cuisines? How many of the businesses that startup annually are related to the food service industry? What sort of company was the largest company to move its HQ here in 30 years? (I'll give you a hint: SYSCO food service) How many restaurateurs in the area have wonderful education and experience they went someplace else to get?

Yeah. It ain't glamorous. Yeah. It ain't BioTech, or Advanced Materials, or even IT. But it's a wonderful mix of Cuisine, Culture, Entertainment, Diversity, and Entrepreneurialism. If Cleveland is trying to promote it's tourism destination, I think it's a natural fit.

Of all the talk I hear at these networking events I go to about what NEO should be doing I've never heard anyone mention anything about it. Sure, it's a simple idea, but I say Occam's Razor. Look what June Holley is doing at the Appalachian Center for Economic Development Networks (talk about a Freudian slip, E and D ALWAYS go together, not E and N)! I'd be interested in hearing your comments. Please leave them below, or email them to me.