Bracken's Kitchen
PROGRAMS
Rescued Food and Community Feeding Program
Our Rescued Food Program provides the products needed for our Culinary Training Program and the Culinary Training Program then supplies food for our Food Truck and Community Outreach Feeding Program. “Rescued food” is defined as any edible food item diverted from the waste stream to be used for its original purpose. There are many reasons for food waste, e.g. crops are never harvested, food is thrown out if visually imperfect, restaurants prepare more food than they sell, and grocery stores pull food off the shelf when expiration and Best Used By dates are nearing. With our Food Truck and Community Feeding Programa, our food trucks enable meals to be served where the need is. This community work keeps our staff and volunteers humble, grounded, and connected to the culture, and the faces and hearts of the hungry. In its simplest form, our food truck delivers hot and nutritious meals in a fun, and dignified manner. We serve the highest quality and most nutritious meals that their clients will get all week. In doing so they are not only nourishing the body but the soul as well. Bill has been known to take a break from his prep to play with the kids and engage on a personal level. When asked, he says it's, “Because feeding people is not the same as nourishing them." Dignity, respect and pride are three areas that the program is intent on preserving for those served. The lives of the under-served in our community are challenging enough. Bracken’s team feels that providing services to this population should and can be done in a dignified manner. Bracken's Kitchen provides meals in a fun, upbeat environment by setting up tables and chairs to sit at, having music playing, and offering a robust and varied menu from a clean and attractive truck. Bracken’s Kitchen also distributes meals to its partner service organizations, feeding clients and providing wrap-around services that enable people to successfully overcome the root causes of the issues they are facing in life, including lack of employment, physical and mental health issues, drug and alcohol abuse, and domestic violence.
By providing healthy and nutritious meals to the low-income population and their families we hope to lessen their financial burden. In doing so we will free up their precious few dollars to be used on other life necessities. We would hope that this helps to lead them out of poverty and into a better life, one where they would not have to rely on others for a meal.
Culinary Training Program
Culinary Training Program provides vocational skills for under-served individual to enter the culinary industry where there is work and ability to advance. Experience through hands on training serve as a foundation for financial stability and ultimately to break the cycle of poverty, by training new food service talents who bring a mindset to recover and repurpose food, and serve healthy meals in the communities. Our goal is to place student trainees with employment in the culinary industry post training.
Bracken's Kitchen recognize that everyone learns at a difference pace. This is especially true considering the myriad physical, mental and creative skills that are necessary to thrive and grow in the hospitality field. We allow our students to learn and grow at their own pace - a hands-on training program. Our program is set up so that we can bring students on a revolving basis with a maximum of 16 at any given time. With the production volume levels for our feeding programs, there will be plenty of hands on practices as they learn and enhance their entry-level culinary skills providing a solid foundation to build upon. Our success is measured solely on the employment ability of those we work with, with a goal of 80% job placement. We believe in not only giving hand outs but a hand UP into their future.
CONTACT
Bracken's Kitchen
13941 Nautilus Drive
Garden Grove, CA 92843
Bill Bracken
Phone: 714-554-1923