As the dining partner for Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) for the past 23 years, the Bon Appétit Management Company team has taken the University’s ethos to serve the greater good to heart, making it an integral part of how we approach operations and interactions with the on- and off-campus communities.
In late 2020, Regional Manager David Murphy began thinking about how to deepen this commitment in partnership with WUSTL Dining. He had recently joined the board of an emerging nonprofit organization called Propel Kitchens, which has a mission to utilize nutrition, food industry training and education initiatives as tools to equip and enable St. Louis residents and communities to combat persistent economic and health inequities.
Now, Propel Kitchens and the WUSTL Dining culinary and operations teams are working hard to make the vision a reality. In the summer of 2021, Propel Kitchens cut the ribbon to open the 5,000-square-foot culinary space and began building out the kitchen and staff. The Commissary operations support project soft launched in December and the first class of students will officially enroll later this summer.
In 2022, Propel Kitchens expects to graduate their first class of students and be working with the second. Most importantly, while the phased project continues to grow at WashU, Propel Kitchens is continuing to expand its impact on communities throughout St. Louis, as Board President, Yvonne Sparks explains in this in-depth interview with Studio STL on Fox 2 St. Louis.
“The partnership with Bon Appétit has been the catalyst needed for Propel Kitchens to gain its footing in the commercial food space,” says Kisha Lee, Executive Director of Propel Kitchens. “We will continue to build upon this great partnership and expand our reach into new markets that will allow for growth of our workforce development model and the creation of new opportunities to address food insecurities in the communities that need it the most.”
Read the full article on the Bon Appétit Management Company website here.