Cook Local podcast episode featuring Jen Faigel, talking about the work of Commonwealth Kitchen to transform the food economy by supporting local food entrepreneurs and reshaping the food system.
This episode covers:
- How you can support Commonwealth Kitchen (CWK) members by purchasing a special holiday gift box.
- Jen’s background in real estate and community economic development.
- How CWK supports local food entrepreneurs by providing shared kitchen space and helping them develop their businesses.
- Why starting a business is a logical pathway for wealth creation for the demographic groups CWK serves.
- How CWK is transforming the food economy through partnerships with local institutions that give food entrepreneurs access to markets for their products.
- Strategies to reduce food waste by partnering with local farms to create products with produce that would otherwise be unused.
Today’s Guest
Jen Faigel is a dedicated advocate and activist for community economic development that leads to wealth creation, asset building, and meaningful investment in low-income communities.
Jen is co-founder and Executive Director of CommonWealth Kitchen, Boston’s only nonprofit food business incubator and food manufacturing social enterprise. CWK provides business support and kitchen space to support to 55+ entrepreneurs 75% of whom are women, people of color, or immigrants, that employ over 160 local residents. CWK’s small-batch contract manufacturing provides recipe development, production, and value-added processing for 25+ wholesalers, restaurants, and farms, as well as work with several local colleges and the Boston Public Schools.
Read Jen’s full bio here on the CWK website and go to their homepage to purchase a holiday gift box while supplies last. This is a special curated collection of delicious food products from a variety of CWK members.
Related episodes
If you share Jen’s passion for transforming the food economy and reducing waste, here are some other Cook Local episodes that you might like:
- Grown in Africa (ep. 33) with Josh Reed-Diawuoh, a CWK member who creates delicious cashew snacks with nuts imported from West Africa.
- Delivering Local Food and Reducing Food Waste (ep. 12) with Erin Baumgartner, Founder of Family Dinner.
- Supporting Local Food Entrepreneurs (ep. 10) with Tamika Francis.
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