Delicious Social Innovation

By Grace Carballo ‘17

On Tuesday, the Sol Price Center for Social Innovation hosted a social innovation seminar called “Delicious Social Innovation” with representatives from 5000 Pies, With Love Market and Café, and Everytable. 

I had the privilege of attending the seminar with my current (PPD 478) Social Innovation professor, La Mikia Castillo, who in addition to teaching in the Price School of Public Policy, is a change agent herself as the National Organizing Director for National Foster Youth Institute (NFYI). 

Like Professor Castillo, these three social enterprises are doing incredible things in their communities, nourishing Los Angeles and building a more equitable future.

5000 Pies

5000 Pies is a social enterprise of Foundation of Life Covenant Church in Long Beach. Chef Mike Martinez and CEO Becky Teter spoke to those in attendance about their mission to transform the lives of young people in West Long Beach through culinary employment and life skills coaching. Mike grew up amidst the gang lifestyle of Santa Ana before training at Le Cordon Bleu and Becky grew up in inner city Los Angeles before her extensive experience in community development and urban ministry. They recognize culinary training as an incredible path to opportunity.

5000 Pies specializes in deep dish pizza and sweet pies, all made from scratch using quality ingredients. 

Mike and Becky spoke to the role their church has played in the development of 5000 pies, with support from ministry partners. Not only that, they explained how “miraculous provisions” helped them tremendously- they literally received a U-Haul’s worth of supplies for free at a crucial time. 

5000 Pies is a beacon of hope and pride for the communities on the west side. They put out good pies and good pizzas (and have an award-winning pastry chef, as well!) but their culture and attitude are what really set them apart.  5000 pies recently won the Innovations award and Mayor’s award and within the next year or so, is looking to discuss a sustainable model so other churches and organizations can replicate their success.

Check them out on Instagram (the pie pics might make you hungry though) and check our their menu if you’re craving some deep dish, something sweet, (or both) and head on over to Long Beach to pick up your pizza and/or sweet pies and feel good about the community impact you’re supporting while you feast. 

With Love Market & Café

Andrew McDowell, Founder and CEO of With Love Market & Café, spoke about the joys and challenges of operating his social-enterprise, which serves the residents of Southwest Los Angeles. With Love believes that all people are equally valuable, regardless of income, race, social status, language, etc., and that they deserve the same access. 

The Market at With Love provides top quality, affordable food and drinks for customers, making it easier to eat healthy. As a social enterprise, profits from the Market help to support Community Programs, local hiring, and paying employees a living wage with benefits. With Love has committed to having 75% or more of their staff from the local community.

Similarly, profits from With Love Cafe help support these same programs and initiatives. The Cafe serves coffee, tea, and grab-n-go sandwiches and salads, all made on site. They have plenty of seating if you’re on the prowl for a new study spot off campus and even a meeting room available for reservations in advance. When you support With Love Cafe, you are supporting their community programs and South LA, so go ahead and get that second coffee.

With Love Community Programs is the non-profit arm of With Love Cafe where a portion of profits from the market and cafe are reinvested into the community. They provide educational and exercise classes, food cooking demos, youth internships, and a community educational garden. “We hope that residents of South LA, seeing life growing in the most unlikely places, will be inspired to dream about the change that they can make.” 

Andrew’s advice to those in attendance, who also want to work in social enterprise and innovation, was to know your true mission and true constituency. He explained how he tried to do too much at the beginning, but has recognized the value of focusing on quality and experience. He lives within walking distance of the Cafe/Market and emphasized that investing in your community is important. Good things are already happening at With Love- they recently received recognition from City Hall and next week, Andrew is getting married! Congratulations are definitely in order. 

Make your way over to South Vermont Ave. to experience this incredible cafe and market for yourself.  I tried the coldbrew coffee at this Delicious Social Innovation seminar and it truly revived me to get through the rest of a long day. Be sure to check their events page to find out about upcoming classes through the With Love Community Programs. You can also follow them on Instagram and check out this commercial featuring the people behind this amazing social enterprise. 

Everytable

Anar Joshi, VP of Marketing for Everytable, spoke about her desire to create lasting community impact and Everytable’s unique model of achieving this. Everytable’s prices differ from location to location, according to the neighborhoods they serve. So the first location, in South LA (right by Nature’s Brew and Bacaro), has lower prices than the next location in Downtown, based on the mean income of those they serve. 

Many communities in the U.S. do not have access to healthy, affordable food and face high rates of obesity, diabetes, and stress. These “food deserts” have fast food and little else, making healthy food a luxury that many cannot afford. 

Everytable seeks to change this. These grab-and-go locations sell nutritious food, fast, and inexpensively. The sister-model (one higher-income community for every lower-income community location) and efficient food preparation strategies make it possible to sell the food at much more accessible prices.

Anar explained their social enterprise’s ambitious goal- to have 20 stores within Los Angeles within the next year, 10 of which will be in underserved communities and 10 of which will be in wealthier ones. Everytable offers a systemic solution to a problem and the potential for collective success. Anar summarized that their mission is to eradicate food deserts so everyone has access to healthy fast food, showing that the for-profit model can work AND do good.

Follow Everytable on Instagram, and check out their website to find out more about their model and mission or get a look at some of the amazing and affordable meals at the first location, very close to where many USC students live.

I hope you get a chance to support each of these 3 social enterprises by trying their amazing food and familiarizing yourself with their missions. They represent anything but “business as usual” and are already starting a positive ripple effect throughout Los Angeles. I look forward to watching them grow and flourish and share their models with other cities in the future and definitely hope to work for a similar social enterprise after I graduate. 

Fight on (and support social enterprises & community building on),

Grace Carballo ‘17

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