S9 Ep17: Serving Up Second Chances: How the Sprouts Chef Training Program for Youths is Transforming Lives and the Future with Kate Rogers, Nelson German, and Michael Bauers
“A job is a give and take. You give your time, you build momentum, and you build value in the community; but then you also receive financial remuneration. But this is about cooking as well, and the healing component of kitchens.” —Kate Rogers
“It's not just for a job, it's for the future. These kids are thinking long-term, which is something that is hard to see in the youth.” —Nelson German
“Just one thing going right can change your life.” —Michael Bauer
For many young adults facing hardship, the path to a brighter future can seem daunting. But with the right support and guidance, their lives can be transformed in remarkable ways. Empowering at-risk youth to find their passion and purpose is a powerful catalyst for change.
Kate Rogers, the founder and executive director of the Sprouts Chef Training Program, has dedicated her career to providing comprehensive job training, mentorship, and financial workshops to empower young adults. Partnering with renowned chefs like Nelson German and Michael Bauer, the program is changing the trajectory of lives, one trainee at a time.
Tune in as Justine interviews Kate, Nelson, and Michael to discover the inspiring stories, the program's holistic approach, the long-term impact of empowering at-risk youth through culinary arts, and more.
This Giving Tuesday, you can give the gift of opportunity. $5,000 sponsors a life-changing 3-month paid internship through the Sprouts Chef Training Program. And the best part? NextGen Purpose will MATCH your donation, doubling your impact. Donate today and change a life!
Meet Kate:
Kate Rogers is the founder and executive director of the Sprouts Chef Training Program. Driven by her personal experiences and a deep passion for empowering at-risk youth, Rogers established Sprouts with the goal of providing culinary training and job opportunities to young adults facing hardship. Under her leadership, the program has expanded to multiple cities, partnering with renowned chefs and restaurants to offer comprehensive training and mentorship. Rogers' unwavering dedication to creating positive change in the lives of the program's participants has been instrumental in Sprouts' success and growth.
Meet Michael:
Michael Bauer is a renowned food writer and restaurant critic. He served as the restaurant critic and food editor for the San Francisco Chronicle for over 32 years, establishing himself as a leading voice in the Bay Area culinary scene. Since leaving the Chronicle, Bauer has dedicated his time to supporting the restaurant industry and giving back to the community. He currently serves on the board of the Sprouts Chef Training Program, where he leverages his industry expertise to help mentor and empower at-risk youth interested in culinary careers.
Meet Nelson:
Nelson German is the chef and owner of alaMar, a popular restaurant in Oakland, California. With over a decade of experience in the industry, German has established himself as a respected figure in the Bay Area culinary community. In addition to running his own successful restaurant, German has been an active participant in the Sprouts Chef Training Program, serving as a mentor and providing hands-on training to young adults looking to break into the restaurant industry. German's commitment to giving back and supporting the next generation of culinary talent has made him an invaluable asset to the Sprouts program.
Connect with Sprouts Chef Training Program:
Episode Highlights:
Episode Highlights:
00:17 The Sprouts Chef Training Program
05:46 Meet Nelson
14:45 Changing the Lives of Youths
15:06 Meet Michael
25:09 Giving Tuesday
36:03 Youth Empowerment: Investing on Long-Term Impact
Tweets:
Unlocking the potential of at-risk youth can transform not just individual lives, but entire communities. Tune in to discover how one innovative program is changing the game and how you can help make a difference for these youths as @jreichman interviews Sprouts Chef Training Program’s Kate Rogers, Nelson German, and Michael Bauer. #podcast #entrepreneurship #socialgood #inspiration #impactmatters #NextGenChef #EssentialIngredients #Season9 #empoweringyouth #culinaryarts #chefmentorship #youthskillsdevelopment #secondchances #communityengagement
Inspirational Quotes:
04:15 “A job is a give and take. You give your time, you build momentum, and you build value in the community; but then you also receive financial remuneration. But this is about cooking as well, and the healing component of kitchens.” —Kate Rogers
09:18 “This is going to be a game changer in this industry— just giving someone an opportunity to live out their dreams.” —Nelson German
18:00 “It sounds compelling— to be able to help at-risk youth, to be able to help them get the foundation, the skill set, and give them a little bit of hope, to be able to go into the future and make a difference.” —Justine Reichman
20:02 “Just one thing going right can change your life.” —Michael Bauer
20:08 “It can completely change the direction of somebody's life— whether giving them a new skill set, whether it's getting them out of their environment, whether it's introducing them to new people.” —Justine Reichman
21:32 “A lot of people don't give the local businesses enough credit for the amount of work they do to keep nonprofits thriving.” —Kate Rogers
31:28 “It's not just for a job, it's for the future. These kids are thinking long-term, which is something that is hard to see in the youth.” —Nelson German
31:51 “We all love restaurants, and we want them to survive and thrive.” —Michael Bauer
Transcriptions:
Justine Reichman: Good morning, and welcome to Essential Ingredients. I'm your host, Justine Reichman. With me today to celebrate Giving Tuesday, we have a very special episode with Kate Rogers, Nelson German and Michael Bauer. We're here to talk about Sprouts and the Chef Training Program. I'm really excited to have them all here so that we can let you guys know what it is, and how we can support them to put more people through the training program this year.
So Kate, let's kick it off with you, if you would. If you could just tell us a little bit about the training program, and what inspired the creation behind it.
Kate Rogers: So basically, we take young adults who have been experiencing hardship, whatever that might mean to them, and we give them the opportunity to train directly alongside chefs, like Chef Nelson here, in restaurants in the Bay Area, in New York City, Philadelphia, Princeton, New Jersey, in restaurants and on campuses. And the whole objective is that they take these skills. And with the skills, with the contacts, they help themselves, they get a stable job, and they start to figure out the upward motion in their own lives.
Justine Reichman: Kate, thank you so much for that intro. So Kate, I know that you got involved in this, and it was really personal to you. I'd love to hear from you what was on your mind when you started and got involved with this initiative. What are you hoping to achieve?
Kate Rogers: It's interesting that you asked that because I actually didn't truly understand what motivated me to start Sprouts Chef Training until years later. I had noticed that as soon as I got to college, I was drawn to a population whose story wasn't being told. I started giving cooking classes at live-in lock -in facilities, and really connecting with youth, especially 16 to 25 year olds, and I started bringing chefs along with me. I was working with Alice Waters at the time, and had access to some of the best chefs in the nation, and was inviting them to do these cooking classes with me. And years later, I was able to connect the dots. I grew up with a sibling who had a lot of trouble with the very basics, and I saw the ups and downs, and the different facilities that he visited. And at one point was in juvenile detention, and I had so much empathy for that and for youth who are living a similar story because I lived it. I saw all of that unravel in my own home, and I also got to see the upward motion after so many low moments. And I think that inspired me without me being conscious of it. That inspired me to go towards these kinds of youth and provide a structure where they can be supported, and they can trampoline upwards instead of staying in that rut. So I think there's a lot of different motivations behind Sprouts Chef Training Program. But I know that one was seeing someone in my own family, someone who I loved so deeply go through the lows, the very, very lows, but also reach the highs. And I wanted to be part of that process for someone else.
Justine Reichman: Amazing. And why Sprouts? Wondering, was this for your brother? Was this for the larger population? What was that moment when you first kicked it off? What was your motivation?
“A job is a give and take. You give your time, you build momentum, and you build value in the community; but then you also receive financial remuneration. But this is about cooking as well, and the healing component of kitchens.” —Kate Rogers
Kate Rogers: I think that Sprouts, our theory of changes, is layered. There's one component that's very clear, job training allows an individual to feel autonomy and a sense of accomplishment and purpose, and give back to the community because a job is a give and take. You give your time, you build momentum, you build value in the community. But then you also receive financial remuneration. But this is about cooking as well, and the healing component of kitchens. And I think that is something that escapes a lot of people. I think Chef Nelson, and especially Michael can really understand this point. Because in the kitchen, you are surrounded by a team that very quickly becomes your family. Because of those services, a Saturday night service can be intense, and mistakes happen. Successes happen as well. And those lows and highs allow you to really connect with your peers and understand that they have you. They have your back, and it creates this camaraderie that some of the youth who are in our program don't get at home. So there's a social, emotional support system that we're constructing. There's a raw, hard skills component. There's the intangible component of showing up to work. What does professionalism mean? And then there's the access to movers and shakers in the community. I don't think all 16 year olds are gonna have access to the Nelson German and Michael Bauers out there. So for them to have nothing on their resume that merits this kind of encounter and just throw them into the worlds and the orbits of people who have the contacts, and the vision, and the mentorship skills to take them to the next level is very powerful.
Justine Reichman: Thank you, Kate. So as we were hearing, Nelson and Michael are integral to this and bringing them on helped you level up what you were doing and create game by game changing. Let's just start with Nelson. Did you go out there and choose Nelson? How did you decide Nelson was the man for you and for Sprouts Chef Training?
Kate Rogers: So Nelson, I call Nelson one of our OG chefs. He was there just a few years after Alice Waters and I partnered up, and we started to do kids cooking classes. Nelson had just started his restaurant for maybe a few years into it, and was just opening his doors to the community and making it a point that this wasn't just about business for him, that this was giving back to the community. And so I remember one of the first events we did. It was bringing a bunch of kids into his restaurants, plus their families and kids of all socioeconomic backgrounds. And Nelson just stayed Zen and chill as knives and flames were swirling around, and all of these parents just like poking their heads into the kitchen to check on their kids and take videos. And we did this whole dinner brunch event with Chef Nelson leading the culinary crusade with a bunch of kids. And the kids not only cooked it, but the chef let them serve the meal, and so they were able to experience the behind the scenes and the front of the house. And so when I pivoted the nonprofit to focus exclusively on young adults who have experienced hardship, the 16 to 28 years old chef was like, I'm there. I'm with you. I'm supporting you. And when I approached him to be not only a chef mentor for these youth, but a board member, he just said, Kate, it's an honor. What can I do to help?
Justine Reichman: So Nelson, tell us when you first met Kate, what were your initial thoughts? What were you hoping to achieve by participating and getting involved in Sprouts Chef Training?
Nelson German: It's been almost, I think, close to 9 years since the first time when we did the cooking club. And that was an amazing experience, super fun. Like Kate said, it was my first time opening my doors to just doing more than just opening for service. We wanted to get back to the community a lot more. We're kind of getting our feet wet with the restaurant, it was Alamar. It's been open for 10 and a half years now. I'll be making 11 in May. And yeah, it was just the right time to try something new. And it was during the day. I was like, yeah, I love kids. Always been that kind of favorite uncle around. Let's try this out. Let's see. Let's see how it goes. And Kate and her team were so gracious to be there to help and to coordinate, and I was just there to just have fun. I saw myself in the kids and just having an opportunity to do something different and fun at a restaurant. And literally, kids running around with kitchen tools, just cutting and whisking, and preparing brunch for their family. And it was just so much fun. Ever since that day, I think we did about maybe three classes, and then we switched over to the chef in training.
I do remember when Kate first came to me about that, and I was like, this is it. This is awesome. This is going to be a game changer in this industry, just giving someone an opportunity to live out their dreams. Because a lot of us young adults, young chefs, even our chefs, we dream about being at a restaurant. We see it on TV or reading books, and trying it out and seeing where we fit in, and just getting an opportunity. I think one opportunity goes a long way. Whether it's going to be putting you in the right path that you need to be, that you want to be, or you find out it's not for you just to have that opportunity, I think is important.
Even just seeing from the first mentee coming in, I think his name was, Jamal is one of them. Seeing the way they come on the first day, so shy, really an introvert like I was back in the days, and going to the end being more open, having conversations, being happy. You can see it in their eyes and their body language how grateful they are to the opportunity even if they don't say it. They'll tell you at the end once they graduate. But just seeing them grow and be happy around people and around their own peers of people who are more introverts and just want to cook and do something special in the world, it's an amazing kind of thing to watch and be part of. And I love how it's grown so much in the last few years, and it's still continuing to grow now, not just in the Bay area in New York City, my hometown. Our town is just amazing how it's growing and changing lives, giving these great opportunities to these young adults, and just to be part of that. It means the world to me.
Justine Reichman: Before we introduce Michael, I just wanted to know, do you have one memory from these programs that you might be able to share that would give people the insight and understanding of what the impact is for them going through this? How it changed their life. Something that's tangible that people can really wrap their heads around and be like, oh, my god, that's amazing. I need to do that. I see where it can go for me.
Nelson German: Absolutely. I think it goes back to the first mentee Jamal is one of them that I always really think about, because we actually hired him after the program. It was about three months, trained under them, under us, and worked with everyone. The team just went around learning different things, part of service. Even did a little bit in the front of the house to learn everything. It really revolves around one team to create great experiences. And when we first hired him, just his face and how he actually teared up, and was super happy and grateful that he was going to be part of the team officially. Not just graduating from the great program, but also being part of the team, and that's when everything started coming out. How grateful he is. Never had any hope in his life, never thought about having a future. Because whether the neighborhood he's living in, or family situations and just being happy, I think that changed the world for me, and really saw how special this program is. It gave somebody an amazing opportunity. He was with us for another two years, then moved on due to COVID. Moved out of the state, and is continuing to be in the industry learning different things in other restaurants. Again, just happy growing just like I did as a kid, and just being someone who's going to change the industry for the better. So seeing that it's this program really gives opportunities, not just a three month thing. It can lead to an actual job, to help their families who are also in need financially, and to provide to help their mom, dad or grandma. It's really special.
Justine Reichman: Awesome. Thank you so much, Nelson, So Kate, if you would let us know, how did Michael come into the picture, so that we could give him the intro that is well deserved, and people can better understand the role that he's playing with his background for Sprouts.
Kate Rogers: Absolutely. So when I first met chef Nelson, we were straddling two missions and two programs. The kids cook classes for kids 7 to 12 years old from all socioeconomic backgrounds. And then we were also using some of the income that we generated from the kids who could pay for the classes to pay for the chef training program, and that was focusing on 16 to 28 year olds. Getting them into restaurants in a paid capacity to learn everything from the house to back a house just so they could get a job in the restaurant industry afterwards. So I'm straddling two missions, and I know that if I really want to grow my impact, which for me was a huge motivating force to be able to reach as many youth as possible, that I needed to make a decision. So I enrolled at Stanford Business School, and I had the help from some of the best talent in the states and classmates as well to really hone in and figure out what my model was? What are the pros and cons? And basically just analyze the model and decide what was best. And I had to make a decision between the kids' cooking classes and the chef training program. That was when I really dug into my personal story, what was motivating me? And what kind of impact do I want to make in this world? And after about three months of reflection, I decided to focus entirely on the chef training program, and that's when Michael's name came up in conversation.
I was talking with one of my Stanford professor mentors, and she mentioned a woman who was a community mover and shaker, loved food, and she happened to be friends with Michael Bauer. And I remember that first conversation of like, oh, friend of a friend, maybe potentially an introduction. I was like, oh, no. Can this be possible? But I had this glimmer of hope that if I could access and have a conversation with Michael, that he could really take us to the next level. Because Michael has dedicated his entire career to supporting the restaurant industry in the Bay Area where Sprouts was founded. We had that conversation and Michael being Michael says, I'm not sure what I could offer, Kate. I don't know what I could offer to the youth, to the chefs and to this organization. I remember smiling and reassuring that, Michael, there's plenty that you can do. Listening to a few very superficial examples, and trying to convince Michael that he had value to bring to the restaurant industry and the youth that are entering into the restaurant industry. So I think Michael, you might have a different version, but that's how I remember our first encounter. I was so charmed by Michael's ability to bring it all back to the youth. Never about him and his ability to get things done without putting pressure on anyone. And I think that's a real leadership skill that Michael has brought to Sprouts Chef Training Program, and has taught everyone who is involved in the program.
Justine Reichman: Awesome. So Michael, with that being said, for those that are not familiar because we didn't really get into your background, maybe you could share a little bit about your background, and why did this appeal to you? Why did you get involved?
Michael Bauer: Well, I was the restaurant critic and food editor for 32 years at the Chronicle, and I got involved after I left the Chronicle. When I was there, I couldn't really participate in any charities or support things like that, because of the separation of church and state. When I talked to Kate, I was impressed with her vision and her passion. I particularly like this program because I think it has a two fold effect. I know of many chefs, frankly, who have been saved by the kitchen. If you look into their background, they were on bad paths, and then they found the love of the kitchen, and that really saved them and made them productive individuals. So I'd like that to start with. I also like the fact that after the pandemic, most restaurants really needed bodies, and this would be a chance to give them bodies at the same time giving back. So to me, it was like the perfect combination of helping the chefs and the youth at risk.
Justine Reichman: Wow, amazing. That sounds compelling to me too. To be able to help at-risk youth, to be able to help them get the foundation, the skill set, and give them a little bit of hope. To be able to go into the future and make a difference. So since you've been there, Michael, how many years have you been there now?
Michael Bauer: A little over two years.
Justine Reichman: Can you share some of the greatest takeaways that some of these trainees get from the program?
“Just one thing going right can change your life.” —Michael Bauer
Michael Bauer: I think it's a sense of having a feeling of teamwork, of having to be relied upon for their job, and just the joy of being accepted. I remember one of our galas that we had someone come up, one of our interns who was Vietnamese. She grew up in the Tenderloin in San Francisco, and both her parents, obviously, were Vietnamese. Did not speak English. She said that when she first walked into the kitchen, she saw this great diversity that she didn't even know existed because she lived in a very insular culture, and just that opened their eyes. And so I see that over and over that you have youth. All of a sudden, the light goes on and they realize that there is purpose, and that they can get out of the situation they're in. I think another one that spoke to us was working at Stanford, and he was coming from Oakland. And the first couple of days, he came in late, and the chef at Stanford sat him down and said, you have to be on time. That's the imperative of this job. And so he made an effort and would get on. He had to take both a train and a bus. It was two hours to get there, and he said that what that ended up doing for him was it got him out of the violent area he was in in Oakland, and let him kind of rethink his life. And then he got to this environment that was very supportive. And so it really did just that one act changed his whole life. That's what we see in youth of that age. Just one thing going right can really change your life. And I think that Sprouts is a program that can do it for them.
“It can completely change the direction of somebody's life— whether giving them a new skill set, whether it's getting them out of their environment, whether it's introducing them to new people.” —Justine Reichman
Justine Reichman: It can completely change the direction of somebody's life. Just one thing, whether giving them a new skill set, whether it's getting them out of their environment, whether it's introducing them to new people. And here at this program for what you all are saying, there's an opportunity to have access to all of that, but why would they not otherwise necessarily get that same access. So now, as we go forward, you guys have been around for a while. You've made the transition from the kids programs to these other training programs. Kate, I'd love to hear what we are looking at over the next three to five years up until now. In the course of a year, how many students are you putting through? What does that look like for next year? In the following years?
Kate Rogers: Yeah. Right now, our impact year is focused on graduating 75 students over a 12 month period. We're about to enter into a new impact year, which is going to be 125 students. And this means for us that we need to have all stakeholders, have everyone's hands in the game. It's really not just Sprouts Team behind the scenes. It's the Michael Bauers out there who are serving on our board and making executive calls. It's the chef Nelson who is taking these youth into their restaurants and paying them back in love, vision and mentorship, sending them home with food. And then it's also sponsors, and a lot of people don't give the local businesses enough credit for the amount of work they do to keep nonprofits thriving, and keep these youth in our situation with paid internships. They're getting, oftentimes, well over minimum wage to do a job where they have no experience. That's huge. That allows them to have the financial basics to calmly collect themselves and focus on their work, and not to have a side gig just to make ends meet and pay that bill, pay the food bill, pay the rent bill.
So there's the sponsorships, and then there's the donor community, which is a huge part of what we do. Because these are people who don't necessarily have the time or the structure to launch a nonprofit with a very specific mission, but want to be part of the change in the movement, and want to be part of something that's bigger than themselves. And there is a huge pillar of support coming from everyday people who love chefs, who want to see the restaurant industry thriving, but also want to see their city with hope, and want to see the youth in their city thriving and contributing back, rather than tarnishing or taking. So I think that when you consider all of these stakeholders, there is no reason why our model can't be thriving and functioning in major hubs across the United States. All major hubs are going to have people who want to give back and invest in the youth in their community. There are food lovers and restaurant lovers everywhere across the US.
There are chefs who need, as Michael said, the bodies who also want to give back because of their own personal story. Or because of their own personal ethos, just like Nelson told us about. And there are local businesses who, in addition to their product sales and their market segment goals want to just be giving back. And of course, there are youth support programs who are desperately looking for opportunities for the youth who are coming through their programming so that they can have their youth in stabilized spaces. And I think that's a partnership that's also crucial to what we're doing. We don't have any youth who are going through our program who are not enrolled in a youth support program. That means that the youth at Sprouts are getting not only the chef Nelsons out there mentoring them, and the Sprouts paid team to mentor them, but they get a paid trained case manager to help them with psychological issues that come up. Family issues, lodging issues, and even food crises that can percolate during their time. So I think that is one of the reasons why we're hovering between an 89 and 92% graduation rate for all the youth who come through a program.
Justine Reichman: That's a really high rate. That's pretty impressive. What do you think is the reason for that? Why do you think your rate of success and completion is so high?
Kate Rogers: I think because we refuse to let restaurants pay the wages of the youth who are going through the program we make. A pact with each chef who is mentoring, and we say, hey, we're going to cover the contract, the logistics. We're going to check in with the youth. We're going to give them extra support, and we're going to pay their minimum wage, plus, plus. And in return, can you give them a little extra empathy, a little extra love, a little extra support? And can you make sure that that environment is matching whatever trauma or whatever moment they might be in life? We had one youth who came through, and she had some issues with alcohol addiction. She was not in a position to be around alcohol. Basically, that restaurant understood the hardship that she was facing with alcohol and her relationship with alcohol, and asked that every team member keep their conversation appropriate, and avoid inviting this particular intern after work for drinks. Or even drink on the job before and after. The culture can be kind of all over the place. And so I think that's one example of how chefs really bend over backwards to accommodate.
Justine Reichman: Kate, Nelson and Michael, I'm really curious as we come up on this Giving Tuesday next week, right? We're looking to support additional trainees to go through, and NextGen Purpose and Essential Ingredients more specifically is matching donations up to $5,000 and we're hoping that we'll even surpass that because $5,000, Kate, correct me if I'm wrong, pays for one student to go through. Is that correct?
Kate Rogers: Absolutely. So 5000 allows us to recruit, interview, do a trial shift, talk with a chef, make sure it's a good fit, orient on board, and then do all of the support for their entire paid internship, plus provide wages. And then do financial workshop training, as well as job training, and then help with job acquisition. When you're going to talk about return on impact, return on investment for a donation, I think we've nailed it. So it costs us $5,000 to basically take a youth from knowing nothing to landing a job in the restaurant industry. I'm super excited about this match that you're offering because it allows everyone to basically double what they're giving. That 5k is going to turn into not one, but two chef trainee interns coming into a restaurant. It might be chef Nelson's restaurant.
Justine Reichman: This Giving Tuesday, we're really hoping to get everyone involved, to get people to support this initiative so that whether it's a new chef that can be mentored by Michael or Nelson in the kitchen will have access to these resources even further down the line, get financial training, etcetera, get the whole package so they can be on their way doing this. So Nelson, Michael, tell us, what are you most hopeful for that we can see out of this fundraising effort, and for the next year at Sprouts Chef Training?
Michael Bauer: For me, Kate and I have talked about this because we're doing 70 graduating this year, 125 next year. And I'm hoping the year after that, we can get to 200. I think we have enough applicants to do that, and we need to work and get a few more chefs. But I think we can do that. So to me, it's to be able to meet the demand. And then as we do that, then it's to expand other cities and help other cities do the same thing we're doing here.
Justine Reichman: So what cities do you hope to see as part of the expansion as you grow in the next couple of years? What are the next few cities?
Michael Bauer: Well, I think we're in New York and Philadelphia. I can see any city. I think even in California, Sacramento, San Diego. Any large city, I think, would be prime for this. And so what we're hoping to do is to build a model that others can use and expand it that way.
Justine Reichman: That's super smart. Because then, if you create the model, and then other people can follow it, you can just facilitate it. That makes sense. It makes it a little easier to be able to manage across the country, and maybe even across the pond at some point.
Michael Bauer: We are a local charity. I think that's where our heart is. It's in those individual cities. Nelson and I love the Bay Area so we want to help the restaurant industry. Others love New York, Sacramento or other places. So I think that you just tap into that local community.
Justine Reichman: I think it becomes personal for people. While I live here in the Bay Area, if I can do anything to support New York, my heart is there. I'm happy to do that. I loved growing up there. I love the people there. I've seen firsthand, growing up from the 70's to the 80's, the lack of resources for some. And greater resources for others. And to be able to continue the amplification, education and the resources for these folks, I think, is just amazing. So there are two cities, but there's lots of cities out there. Like you said, it's very personal. Nelson, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.
“It's not just for a job, it's for the future. These kids are thinking long-term, which is something that is hard to see in the youth.” —Nelson German
Nelson German: I think, again, you're giving opportunity, you're giving hope to these young kids, and also you're helping the restaurant industry. You're helping the restaurant industry become more diverse, more equitable, and having more of different viewpoints in it to make it more special, and keep growing in the way that it's scored now and be more of a positive atmosphere. So it's amazing how, again, it's growing. I'm helping it grow more here in Oakland. It definitely expanded more in the Bay Area because you're giving these great opportunities. But also, restaurants have been going through a hard time of having enough people in the kitchen or front of the house, especially ever since COVID. So this helps kind of build on that, and also have someone who's really excited about being in the industry, and wants to make it a career, and be chefs or have their own restaurants. A lot of the mentees that I get at Alamar want to open their own place down in the future. That gets me excited. They want to be entrepreneurs and provide for their families, and be part of something really great where they get to tell their story down the line. So it's really special. It's not just for a job, it's for the future. These kids are thinking long term, which is something that is hard to see in the youth. So usually, they're in little phases. But these are young adults who really want to make change in their lives, and Sprouts has been providing that. And it's so amazing how it's growing more and more.
Michael Bauer: From a consumer point of view, we all love restaurants, and we want them to survive and thrive. And I think that this is a small way to help them.
Justine Reichman: As Kate was asking, when you guys had first met Michael, and Michael's like, what do I have to offer? That's what I got a little bit of. Michael, I also see you as an amazing way to help people share and story tell their journeys. Does that come into play at all?
Michael Bauer: It really hasn't that much. No. But who knows what will happen in the future.
Justine Reichman: That was naturally what I was thinking about. Because as a writer and as somebody that shares those stories, I could see that being invaluable for some of these people where they could figure out how to effectively communicate the impact it's having, the journey that they've had, and what they're hoping to achieve going forward.
Michael Bauer: Up to this point, I think my main role has been helping to engage the chef community.
Justine Reichman: I'm just giving you more work to do. Nelson, Michael, Kate, you're doing such amazing work, and Essential Ingredients just wants to support your efforts, and really share this message on our platform so that we can collaborate with you to help support additional youth to go through the program. And while we're matching up to $5,000, that does not mean that anybody else shouldn't come out of the woodwork and say that they're willing to match up to $5,000. So next week, when this goes live and we're sharing it on all our social channels, along with Sprout Chef Training, we hope that whether you want to donate or match that, that you'll come forward. We will include the link below in our notes and on social media. So if you're not following us at essential.ingredients on Instagram, or you don't download the podcast and you're watching the videocast, that's also Essential Ingredients.
Nelson German: People want to know that, making sure that it's the program that's really giving these skills, and really giving opportunities to mentees. They're not just there, they're actually getting feedback on their work, and also just learning different things every day. And us as restaurants have been doing it for a while, we make sure we're doing that. Letting people work with different people in the kitchen, not just with the executive chef, and learning from everyone. I've learned throughout my career that every person in a restaurant, you can learn something from not just the top chef in that kitchen. And it's vital to life skills, not just restaurant skills, to learning different viewpoints, and absorbing as much knowledge as you can. So when you are ready to grow or have your own place, you have so many things that you learned that you can provide, you can put out for yourself. And this is a great start with the Sprouts Giving Tuesday, you're literally giving an opportunity to these kids to have a future in a career choice that they want. A lot of these kids, again, want to be chefs. They want to have their own restaurants and live the dream.
I wish I had this opportunity back in the days too. You gotta think about it. It helps with people who are not financially viable to send their kids into culinary school, which is very expensive at the moment. This is a great point where they're working in a place, learning different things, learning from real people, and seeing different viewpoints in the kitchen, and seeing how it really works. It's an amazing start. I have had mentees come in where they come out of the program, graduate, and then they want to go into culinary school and learn more, or travel to other places. So again, it's a program that starts something, starts to fire that can spread around different ways, and get someone to be happy, and get to where they want to be. They're living their dreams.
Justine Reichman: I think it's inspiring to hear those stories. I think it's something for these potential chefs to aspire to, and I think these stories that you share really give people a sense of what is open to them. I hope that this gave our viewers and our listeners a little peek inside chefs, Sprouts Chef Training Program, and the people that are integral to it. So chef Nelson, Michael and Kate, thank you guys so much for joining. For those tuning in, again, don't forget to listen to our podcast wherever you listen to your podcast at Essential Ingredients. You can watch the video on our channel on YouTube, and you can follow us at essential.ingredients. We will throw all the links for Sprouts Chef Training, and how you too can contribute to this really important initiative. Thank you guys.
