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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Barbara Hughes, Executive Director of City Beet Kitchens
1:59:59
ยท
134 sec
Barbara Hughes, Executive Director of City Beet Kitchens, testifies about the challenges faced by small vendors in competing with larger catering companies for shelter food contracts. She emphasizes the importance of food quality and its impact on food waste in shelters.
- City Beet Kitchens is a social enterprise that provides quality, diverse meals for shelter residents while also creating jobs
- Hughes argues that using lowest-price catering options leads to poor food quality and increased food waste in shelters
- She calls for prioritizing social enterprise caterers over for-profit contracts and for the city to pay nonprofit providers fairly and on time
Barbara Hughes
1:59:59
Good morning.
2:00:00
Well, it's afternoon now.
2:00:01
I've been here listening since the beginning, and it's been difficult to listen to.
2:00:08
My name is Barbara Hughes.
2:00:10
I testified at a hearing recently and actually almost spoke the same script.
2:00:19
I'm the executive director of City B Kitchens.
2:00:21
We're an employment social enterprise which is part of Project Renewal.
2:00:26
We've been operating since 1995.
2:00:29
We're a small vendor.
2:00:31
We compete with the big three.
2:00:33
We can't compete with them because our costs are too high.
2:00:39
The poor food quality in the shelters leads to food waste, it does.
2:00:44
Think about it, if you had an unappetizing meal what would you do?
2:00:47
You would go out and find means to find food another way.
2:00:52
And City B kitchens, we take pride in crafting quality dishes with diverse menus for shelter residents.
2:01:01
Our one large client we we have difficulty competing so we have one large client breaking ground.
2:01:10
We do seven sites for them.
2:01:11
Also provide people to serve the food so we're creating jobs also because they are committed to our mission and went to the city for new needs so that they could afford our services.
2:01:25
We care about the food we create and we care about our staff.
2:01:29
We are paying above minimum wage to our staff.
2:01:33
Many of them are graduates of our culinary training program.
2:01:36
But using the lowest price catering options means that the quality of food in shelters will continue to be an issue.
2:01:45
Additionally, in order to improve food quality in shelters, nonprofit providers must be paid fairly and in a timely manner.
2:01:54
Unfortunately, the city's been chronically late to pay nonprofit providers for our work.
2:01:59
So that's a crisis for us too.
2:02:03
We hope that you'll prioritize social enterprise caterers like ours over for profit contracts.
2:02:12
Thank you.