Cooking Up Opportunity

ChiFresh is a thriving food service contractor run by worker-owners who are all formally incarcerated.  On busy days ChiFresh can prepare and deliver upwards of 500 meals for clients ranging from nursing homes to schools.  Soon though, they will be able produce TEN TIMES that number, as they ready themselves for a move to a much larger space in the city's westside.  Join Change Agents producers Charles Tharpe and Justin Myers as they introduce us to  these entrepreneurs and share their stories of second chances and transformations, in Cooking Up Opportunity.   

Transcript

Narrator: [00:00:00] Change Agents.

Judith McCray: Welcome to Change Agents. In this episode, you'll hear the story of the Chicago based worker cooperative, ChiFresh Kitchen. ChiFresh is a thriving food service contractor run by worker owners who were formerly incarcerated. On busy days, ChiFresh can prepare and deliver upwards of 500 meals for clients ranging from nursing homes to schools.

Soon, they'll be able to produce ten times that number as they ready themselves for a move to a much larger space on the city's west side. Producers Charles Tharp and Justin Myers meet up with these entrepreneurs for their stories of transformation in Cooking Up Opportunity.

Kimberly Britt: As a formerly incarcerated African American woman, It wasn't [00:01:00] my dream to be a business owner because I didn't think that it was something that would be possible. But now that I'm standing in the position that I'm standing in as a business owner, I feel empowered and I know, um, the rest of my team feels the same way too.

Voice 1: Right now we're at, uh, we're on 400 East 71st Street at the, uh, Old King's Market. Um, it's a real estate building that, uh, ChiFresh just purchased to expand the business, um, And right now what we're doing is, uh, we're shooting a pitch video to help us with business development. It's going to be one of our worker owners, uh, Kimberly Britt.

Kimberly Britt: Hi everybody. I'm Kim from ChiFresh kitchen. And I'm one of five co owners of this kitchen. We are a co op where we make decisions together, where we make profit together and hopefully build a future together. [00:02:00] We started up because we saw a need in our community as well as in our own lives. We experienced homelessness and also hungriness as a part of the pandemic hit.

It was kind of hard for us to find a living wage, a job that would give us a second chance, being as though all of us was formerly incarcerated.

Justin Myers: The team at ChiFresh is still waiting on their new space, but they've been cooking up opportunities across the city in the meantime. This is Justin

Charles Tharp: and Charles. On this episode, we're going to dive into how ChiFresh has been working towards change for the employment of formerly incarcerated people. 

Justin Myers: The story started when Kim noticed a flyer in the [00:03:00] hallway of the transitional home she was living in.

It promised the opportunity of a lifetime. Work and own your own business. Even if you had spent time in prison. 

Charles Tharp: She reached out to Adrena, Renee, and Sarah, who met with ChiFresh's advisor, Camille Kerr, to envision how they would serve the community. For Sarah, though, while the mission sounded good, she came to the meetings for a different reason at first.

Sarah: Okay, let me be honest. Uh, Camille was feeding us, and she was like, paying us. First, I was doing three jobs and I was like, I don't know. I do need this extra cash. It comes in handy. You know what I'm saying? And the food, you get fed. So, and then, but I was like, Oh shit, this could be real. This [00:04:00] lady is for real.

Like, and the more we started talking about it, it was like, started coming to be a realization. I was like, Oh man. Okay. But I was scared. at first, because I was like, what if we fail? 

Charles Tharp: In 2018, formerly incarcerated Black women had the highest level of unemployment across all demographics at 44%, versus 35 % for Black men and the lowest percentage, 18 % for white men.

In Illinois, job opportunities are limited for those who have been in prison, which is why a core part of ChiFresh Is giving people a second chance.

Justin Myers: The four women had met in prison and early on, they wanted to make their mission centered around people like them. Shortly after they began, they welcomed on a new member to their team, Danny. [00:05:00] Someone who was formerly incarcerated. 

Kimberly Britt: One of the guidelines that we said when we were creating our environment for our co op was that, um, in order to be hired by us, we only want formerly incarcerated people because we know that those are the ones that struggled the most to find, um, employment opportunities.

And so that was one of the guidelines that we set and as well as after you are with our company for two years or more, you have the opportunity to buy into ChiFresh so that you too can become a business owner. For those who thinking that it's impossible or, you know, it was, it was just an opportunity for us that they will know that they had the same opportunity, as well. So that's that's the door that we want to open to as many people as we possibly can in the future. 

Justin Myers: For ChiFresh, their work goes beyond just cooking food. 

Kimberly Britt: All while I was [00:06:00] incarcerated, you know, I just thought, like, how can I, how can I make my family proud? How can I make myself feel proud, and behind, you know, being inside of this place and just the shame and all of the whole thing of being in jail because that's really not who my family is or it's really not who I am. Like I said, it was a bad decision that I made that cost me a majority of my life. It means everything for people to be able to see who I really am, what I'm really about. I'm a business owner right now today.

I enjoy doing my business on a daily basis and I know so many other people who are trying to be entrepreneurs and just pave a way so that you know, their kids, their family, their loved ones can see who they really are. 

Charles Tharp: ChiFresh is unique because it has a worker cooperative structure, also known as a co-op.

The [00:07:00] ChiFresh team, Kim, Sarah, Adrena, Renee, and Danny all have ownership in the business and are also the ones doing the work. They play different parts in running the kitchen, but there's no hierarchy between them. When major decisions have to be made, the group decides on them together and has regular business meetings to plan for their future.

Justin Myers: For Kim and Adrena, ChiFresh isn't just about finding work. It's about having a workspace that you have control over. 

Kimberly Britt: I think we don't really get a chance to really show, even if we working at McDonald's, we doing what we have to do because we have a boss, a hierarchy anarchy above us that's stipulating what they want us to do.

But to be able to be who you are in your own work environment and also, you know, impact the community because we definitely have impacted the community with our story, you know, and [00:08:00] show people that you can take a bad situation and turn it into a great positive situation. So that's really. Really, our main mission.

Adrena: ChiFresh for me is like, um, my reality. 

Charles Tharp: That's Adrena. 

Adrena: It's a dream, um, and it actually came true. I always wanted to be a business owner. Um, and I have that. At ChiFresh it's, when I say my reality, um, I come from prison. And, and, You know, when people leave prison, they don't seem to believe that they can achieve big things because they have a background.

Charles Tharp: Rising nonprofits often have their struggles, and ChiFresh is no different. They've had to learn to work together and adapt to an economy battered by the pandemic. As Kim explains, 

Kimberly Britt: We had a lot of grant meals that we were doing that we were, we got the grants to feed certain people. And of course, [00:09:00] The more the pandemic went on, the less the grants came in, so we weren't able to financially continue to feed certain clients that we had. Everything has really died down. Like we are used to doing at least 800 to 1000 meals a day. And so we have drastically declined from that to like maybe 200 meals a day. 

Charles Tharp: But while we were recording at ChiFresh, the staff got some much needed good news.

Kimberly Britt: Y'all just missed it. Like five minutes ago, we just got the news about receiving a new contract and everybody was screaming. We're doing a tasting Thursday for 580 meals with, um, another after school program. So we are very excited about that. 

Justin Myers: Even amid the hurdles, the worker owners at ChiFresh are not afraid to dream big.

In fact, Kim even has a couple celebrity clients she'd like to land. 

Kimberly Britt: Oprah Winfrey, of course, [00:10:00] and Tyler Perry, because, you know, everything that they do, it has a subliminal message to it. You know, it's something to encourage, motivate, lift you up. You know what I'm saying? And that's really What the impact that we want to make to we want people to be encouraged motivated and uplifted So if I could deliver food for them like I would probably get up at 5 o'clock in the morning and try to make sure everything was perfect because Those are the two people that I look up to their work that they do on a daily basis And yeah, it will probably be Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry.

Definitely. 

Justin Myers: The team has two white delivery vans that they drive everywhere in the city, but they make sure to prioritize the south and west sides where food deserts impact access to healthy meals. Almost 80 percent of Chicago's black community, which makes up a third of the city's [00:11:00] population, live in these areas with limited food access.

And as Adrena will attest to, the community has had a positive response to their efforts. 

Adrena: I know that I help people because anytime we pull up with that big white truck, that's what they call us, the big white truck here, uh, they get so happy. They can't wait. They stand in lines in the cold and the hot sun.

They wait for those meals. So that right there alone makes, lets me know that I am accomplishing my dream. 

Charles Tharp: For Sarah, some days might be easier than others, but the team at ChiFresh is in it to help each other thrive. 

Sarah: We're a special group because of where we came from and us knowing and loving each other like we do.

I'm not going to play like, like everything's perfect every day with us. We have our ups and downs. We have our arguments. We have our disagreements. But we agree more to keep our business going. You [00:12:00] know what I'm saying? We, you know, something goes wrong, everybody like, you know, and we all have our bad days.

Charles Tharp: For formerly incarcerated people, their struggles often extend beyond their time served. It's clear that even after serving your quote unquote debt to society, you may be free, but not entirely. 

Justin Myers: Something Kim knows firsthand. 

Charles Tharp: How do you feel society treats formerly incarcerated people or, um, women? 

Kimberly Britt: Um, well, I can just speak, um, from my personal experience, not just with society, but with my family.

Like, um, you know, it was always that question mark upon my release and me navigating back into the world. It was like everybody was like skeptical and, um, trying to find a job was very difficult at first. But it was like, it was. It was extremely, um, defeating to know that [00:13:00] once they asked that question, that you had to answer that question and relive your past, so to speak.

And that even though they say that it won't be held against you, that it actually was being held against you and finding a good job. 

Justin Myers: There are plenty of places that don't care about your background, but These places also tend to be entry level work, something which Kim put time and effort into ensuring that she could move past.

Kimberly Britt: Yeah, I could've worked at McDonald's, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, but I, I, I used my time to get educated and to just acquire different degrees and skills and, um, when I went to acquire those type of jobs, to put those skills to use. It was always a problem because that question was always posed to me or my background was always checked and I just couldn't [00:14:00] step outside of experience in that.

Charles Tharp: Everyone at ChiFresh has a part to play in their fight for progress. Adrena serves up her home style cooking while Kim delivers a healthy slice of humor while prepping the meals. 

[Lively kitchen conversation]

Justin Myers: And, Sarah is in charge of dish and delivery duty, but she's hoping to do more soon. ChiFresh currently operates out of a space no bigger than a standard Chicago studio apartment, but that's about to change.

They've been in the process of renovating an old grocery store in the city's Grand Crossing neighborhood. 

Charles Tharp: But, the project has seen several delays. 

Justin Myers: Sarah's been using that time to dream about the opportunities the new space will open up once it's ready. There will be a cafe for breakfast foods, more elbow room, and a chance for her to pursue her childhood dreams.[00:15:00] 

Sarah: I get to do more things, like, we get to showcase more things. We're gonna be, like, selling clothes, too. So, I love fashion. I'm big on fashion, and I can't wait to see how that goes. Like I used to sit in school when I was a kid and daydream about designing sneakers. And I like designing our ChiFresh's logo.

That's something, now that's a passion of mine. Now, you know, that's a passion. That's a passion of mine.

Narrator: Thank you for joining Change Agents. Produced by Juneteenth Productions with funding support [00:16:00] from the Chicago Community Trust and the Field Foundation. Please subscribe to our series on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you find podcasts. Do you have a story to share? Join us in the ongoing conversation on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

And our website changeagentsthepodcast.com.