There are several workforce training programs related to the food industry here in Rhode Island. Beautiful Day RI is a nonprofit granola company on a mission to help refugees through business initiatives, job training, and public education. The Culinary Hub of Providence — also known as CHOP — is another one. That is a 2,000-hour, state-accredited apprenticeship that mixes both front-of-house and chef training. You can read all about it in a story I wrote for Motif last year. LIFE Cafe is based in Pawtucket and provides meaningful workforce training opportunities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, focusing on the arts of barista service and customer service. Collectively, we are constantly building new stories on RI’s culinary foundation.
Harvest Kitchen, which opened this spring, is another nonprofit program, managed by Farm Fresh RI in Providence, that connects food to a mission-focused effort. Sean Contos is the program director, after serving the organization as a volunteer for eight years. He now oversees the culinary job training program and local foods café that started in 2009 in partnership with the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), which is part of the Rhode Island Training School. Participants in the Harvest Kitchen program range in age from 16 to 19 years. They train on working in the kitchen and managing the register, to build job skills.
If you aren’t familiar with Farm Fresh RI, one of its tenets is, “Make it here, enjoy it here,” a community-minded philosophy that connects customers to the making of the products they are buying. For example, the next time you stop by New Harvest Coffee for a cup of joe, you will likely catch a whiff of roasting beans.
The collaboration between Harvest Kitchen and DCYF brings together kids who need jobs and farmers who have extra food to create fantastic dishes for customers to eat. I am a huge fan of collaborations and this is a fabulous trifecta! One of the many success stories includes a 2019 graduate of the program who served as an intern with Gracie’s and now works as a sous chef for a restaurant in Warwick. Another student, who graduated in 2021, interned with the market mobile program at Farm Fresh RI and continues to work with them as an employee.
Other partners of Harvest Kitchen include the Angell Foundation, Jacques Pépin Foundation, Papitto Opportunity Connection, Toast (a POS platform), and Beautiful Day RI.
Sean is a trained chef specializing in farm-to-table and sustainable cooking, which is very clear when you look at the café menu. It changes based on the availability of ingredients, so always check their website for the most current offerings. At the time of this writing, a few of the options include a sweet potato sandwich, a wild rice bowl, and a Blackbird Farm cheeseburger, which I enjoyed during my visit. About 75% of the items used in the dishes are from the New England area. The staff is made up of both professionals and students who work together to provide high-quality meals and service.
They also offer canned goodies. They take ‘ugly food’ – aka the scratch and dent products that can’t be sold – and produce a line of jarred foods like spicy carrots, dilly beans, or applesauce. The sales of these help cover the costs of operating the training program. If you can’t make it into the café and are hosting an event, they cater, too.
Located at 10 Sims Avenue in Providence. The cafe is ADA accessible and there is plenty of free parking. It is open for lunch on weekdays. See FarmFreshRI.org for hours and menu. Follow Dennise on IG @TheAdventurebroad.
RESOURCE LINKS
farmfreshri.org/programs/harvest-kitchen
BACKLINKS
motifri.com/building-a-community-one-drip-at-a-time-new-harvest-coffee-spirits/