S3: Detroit S.O.A.R. – Sisters On A Roll, Mobile Cafe’ #85

The Bonfires of Social Enterprise with Romy of Gingras Global | Social Enterprise | Entrepreneurship in Detroit

Detroit S.O.A.R. – Sisters On A Roll, Mobile Cafe’

Hey there, I am back with another guest from the great city of Detroit. This is Romy, and I have the pleasure of introducing you to Chef Bee and Jasmine of social enterprise Detroit S.O.A.R! They have an inspiring story of joining together around health food for some very interesting reasons. This is a true story of how we are better together! Stay tuned at the end for a really fun song by a Detroit artist. As a matter of fact, you might want to find your dancin’ shoes while you are listening, so you are ready.

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Hey there, I am back with another guest from the great city of Detroit. This is Romy, and I have the pleasure of introducing you to Chef Bee and Jasmine of social enterprise Detroit S.O.A.R! They have an inspiring story of joining together around health food for some very interesting reasons. This is a true story of how we are better together! Stay tuned at the end for a really fun song by a Detroit artist. As a matter of fact, you might want to find your dancin’ shoes while you are listening, so you are ready.
Before we hear from Jasmine and Chef Bee, let’s see what Luke found for us on this episode’s fun fuel
Hi, this is Luke Trombley, and I am bringing you the fun fuel for this episode.
While on the topic of mobile food, nearly 795 million people in the world do not have enough to eat. That is approximately one in nine people. 98% of the worlds undernourished population live in developing countries. Thanks to companies like Detroit Soar, that bring food to people who don't get enough to eat, the world hunger problem has dropped from 23.3 percent in developing nations to 12.9 percent.
Thank you for listening to this fun fuel. Enjoy the Episode!
Thank you, Luke! Listening to those statistics, it really makes me thankful for the work of Detroit SOAR. Let’s listen in now….

Romy:
We're excited to have you. You guys [crosstalk 00:00:22]. Yeah, you guys were ... we met cause you were winners at a Build Social event in Detroit. Right?

Jasmine R:
Yeah. So, we were in an eight-week business accelerator to help us learn how to build a business while still doing a social mission and making a profit. And we met you at our pitch competition for that.

Romy:
Yeah. Lucky for me! Yeah, so let's, first of all, let our listeners know about Detroit SOAR and ... I don't know is that the name you use or do you say Sisters On A Roll? Can we clarify that right out of the gate?

Chef Bee:
Yes. We can clarify that. Sisters On A Roll is my personal company, and me and Jasmine met through that company, and together we became partners to do Detroit SOAR, which is Sharing Opportunities And Resources.

Romy:
Okay. Glad to know that. Okay, so Detroit SOAR is Sharing Opportunities And Resources. Alright, I love it. And then do you still have your other company going, Chef Bee?

Chef Bee:
Yes. That's the company through which we do the catering for Detroit SOAR -

Romy:
Okay.

Chef Bee:
And everybody else.

Romy:
And you really go by ... you're really most known as Chef Bee. Right?

Chef Bee:
I am.

Romy:
And why is that? Let's go back in history just a little bit.

Chef Bee:
Oh, we're going way back. I was in the kitchen when Tony from Andiamo's and it was two Browns in the kitchen. So, he called me Chef Bee.

Romy:
Okay -

Chef Bee:
And I've been going by Chef Bee ever since.

Romy:
So that's so good. So, what is Detroit SOAR?

Chef Bee:
Detroit SOAR is a way that we reach the people through the medium of food.

Jasmine R:
Yeah. So what we're trying to do when Chef Bee and I met we had a lot in common, and one of the things was our passion over food and our passion to serve the community through food. So, what we wanted to do was create a company where we could pull both of those together. So, what we normally tell people when they ask us, "What is Detroit SOAR?" is we say it's a mission driven café that helps bring the community together through food and events.

Romy:
Now, are you mobile [inaudible 00:02:41]?

Jasmine R:
So, we are mobile. So right now for the past like six months or so Chef Bee and I have really been focused on doing a lot of pop-up events. So, I know people have seen us at Eastern Market, at [Marlow 00:02:51] Farmer's Market, at Campus Munches, a couple other pop-up places. And then we are working on becoming mobile. So, we have a couple of food trucks. One we are very close to finishing up licensing for it and then we'll be on the road, you know, being able to go around Detroit serving different areas. And then we have an additional food truck that we're trying to build out for the winter. Cause our current one only runs on diesel, which tends to gel up when it gets cold. So we have another one that runs on gas that we can use a little bit easier during the winter months.

Romy:
So, nice. Alright. And so the purpose, just to get real basic for our listeners, the purpose is to deliver nutritional food, right, to some of those that might not have access to it?

Chef Bee:
Yes. That would be our end goal ... First of all, we want to be sustainable, so we want to be able to provide a service to the people that's already in the food deserts and also serve the people that are going through food injustice. And the flip side of that is offering everybody else; we're offering everyone healthy food service. Our food service, we want you to think about it a little bit differently. Like, yeah, you can get fried chicken anywhere, but how about maybe an oven friend chicken versus something greasy. You know what I'm saying? Or -

Romy:
Mm-hmm (affirmative)-

Chef Bee:
Try it this way. We take different cultures of food and familiarize it for you. So, then you can taste the flavor of love, too.

Romy:
And Chef Bee, what's the reason why you want to deliver some nutritional food?

Chef Bee:
I come from outreach ministry. So, I'm always feeding someone. And I see the quality of the food that the big non-profit companies give to some of the people, and it's horrible. Like, I don't want to put this on the air, but I'm gonna say it. Like Red Cross food trucks ... they give the people watered down soup, maybe a piece of fruit, and green hot dogs. And I think that's horrible. Like, how is that gonna sustain somebody? You know what I'm saying? -

Romy:
Yeah.

Chef Bee:
I'm coming to a truck to be fed for free. At least give me something that will sustain me. And so I feel like it's my job to do that. Like, because I know I can. [crosstalk 00:05:17] You know even though it's statistically you looked at me. I'm a walking statistic on poverty and everything else, but I don't feel that way because as long as I'm able to help my brother, I'm rich.

Romy:
Yes, yes. I say, "Amen" to that. My faith has me saying unto that. Yes. Yeah, well good. And you've been feeding people for a while cause I think this is part of how this all started. Right?

Chef Bee:
Yes. What happened was prior to me even meeting the lady that I named my business after, I was always in outreach ministry. Always cooked and feed the people. I always cooked and fed seniors, people that could no longer cook for themselves, people that had dietary issues. And what happened was my mother got sick, my husband let me take off work, and so I was cooking for people and, you know, to help make up for the lack of not having a job, that's what started it. And then a friend of a friend asked me to help a friend. And that's how Sisters On A Roll actually started. She fell backward, and they said she would never walk again, but she drug herself until her body obeyed.

And so she needed somebody to go along with her to business class. I went along with her, I was learning everything she was learning, and they asked the question, and I was in the classroom, and I was like, "Well, you know, I had to remember where I come from." Like my grandparents had businesses and everything, but by the time we were of age to realize what was going on, we were already having to work for someone else. So, this whole series of tragic events turned out to be a beautiful thing. In the process, I met Jasmine, and she's loved me from the first like really ... And we lost touch for a minute, and then when we saw each other again, it was like we had never missed a beat. And then the more we talked, the more we wanted to partner up, and we was like, "Time is short. Let's just do it. If it doesn't work, we'll do something else."

And we were just looking at all different injustices going on in the city, out of the city, and everything else, and we was like, "We got a solution for that." And we'd become mobile and not be tied to one particular place. Then not only can we sustain ourselves, but we can help others be sustainable and test the market as well.

Romy:
Yeah. That's so good. And Jasmine, what's your background. How did you sort of arrive one the scene?

Jasmine R:
Yeah. So, I actually went to the University of Michigan, and I was studying business. I was in their business school, and I was always interested in the start-up scene. So there in college, I worked on various start-ups, and one of the ones I started doing on my own was called DineRoll, and it was a visual way to find food in your area.

So, I came to TechTown; I became part of their DTX Launch Detroit program. So, I was in it for the summer of 2015. Really interviewing a lot of restaurant owners, food bloggers, foodies, anyone in the Detroit food scene ... to do a customary discovery for the app, I was trying to build. And during that time, there was a pop-up dinner, and I never even really heard of pop-up dinners. I didn't know what it was. But there was one at Checker Bar and my partner at the time was like, "Let's go check it out." So, I checked it out, and it was Sisters On A Roll that was putting it on. So, I got to try some of [inaudible 00:08:47] food and after I was like, "Can I just sit down to interview with you and figure out some of your pain points, your backstory?" So like Chef Bee said, her and I met up and we just really bonded at the time. And my startup ended up falling through, so I reached back out to her about six months after that and then her, and I partnered up. And we've been doing this ever since.

Romy:
Nice, nice. Cause you guys, sometimes when you come from ... un-similar backgrounds and un-similar age groups, and all that, it's hard to mess. But I got to tell you having watched you two together; you seem like a natural fit for the business.

Chef Bee:
Yes.

Jasmine R:
I love it. Like she teaches me how to cook, and I'm now learning how to cook different things. [inaudible 00:09:30] I didn't cook them before -

Chef Bee:
She gives me new eyes. You know what I'm saying?

Romy:
Yeah.

Chef Bee:
Like her energy is ... how you say it? It's infective, it's like, "Oh my god!" [inaudible 00:09:43] as a bunny. You know what I'm saying? She's like my other daughter / sister / partner all at the same time. Cause like she's really actually my medium ... my middle aged daughter's age. But together, you never know that. You know what I'm saying? -

Romy:
Right.

Chef Bee:
It's like the stuff we've been through in the last year ...

Chef Bee.:
It's like the stuff we've been through in the last year, melded us together, she like one of the family. You know what I'm saying, it's so funny to me like my kids like, "Where's Jasmine at?" If I go to a concert separate from her, they like "Where Jasmine at?" You know what I'm saying, it's natural, it became natural. Looking at the cultures, looking at the, like you say, lifestyles, all the differences, how would that work? But we know that it's of God because we consider one another, that's what makes it work to me, and together we wage war with a fork.

Romy:
Yes, ah, that's so good! That's so good. You guys are a dynamic duo; there is something about you two together. I told someone that I had bumped into the next morning after I saw you two present, and I'm like, man, they are the dynamic duo. There's some sort of multiplied force when they get together; I could just see it, so good.

Romy:
Yeah, and you know what, I'm glad you just said that. I think sometimes, we get a lot of questions about doing business in Detroit, and my consistent theme is like, look, everybody has a story, every person who's trying to do work in the city of Detroit, especially any entrepreneurial work, every single person has a personal story and most of us are figuring out we're better together. You know ...

Chef Bee.:
That's the bottom line, that's the bottom line. By myself I've been trudging along, I couldn't stop even if I wanted to and just having her along the journey she gets to see things and what I love about the food part is love on a plate crosses all cultures, all economic barriers. Even if you can't speak, if you can't converse with one another, if you put love on a plate, it will tell a story. It will change the narrative; it will do away with all the stuff that we as humans get bogged down with.

Romy:
Yeah, it's so true. So thank you for exploring that for a second with me because I just feel like so many good things are happening for us here in Detroit and I just wanted to highlight that, no matter what the news says.

Chef Bee.:
And that's another thing that I found that through food we have a voice. You know what I'm saying, you might not hear me by myself but if me and her are saying the same thing, somebodies going to take notice.

Romy:
Yeah, that's right. We have kind of a great food scene here, don't we, I'm mean it's more that what people would think.

Jasmine:
Oh yeah, it's definitely coming to life in the past couple of years with the revitalization of Detroit. You know, more younger professionals moving to the city, it's completely changed, and it's awesome to see.

Romy:
Yeah, so Let's talk more about your business model for a minute, let's just hang out there for a second. Are you guys charging some and offering free to others or, how's that working for your own financial sustainability?

Jasmine:
Yeah, of course. So a lot of what we learn actually in the build social class that we met you at was how to create a pay it forward food economy. So what Chef Bee. and I are trying to do partner with our customers to help be able to feed the food deserts of Detroit. So during the day time when her and I pop up at campus marshes or Eastern market, we can charge a little more for our food. That way we can then go back out into the food deserts of Detroit where people can't afford to pay anything at all and be able to serve them still while still having a profit to offset the end of the day.

Romy:
Yeah, smart. Sorry, and when did you start doing that? Did you do it right away or just recently?

Chef Bee.:
I've always did it. A long time ago I used to be under a nonprofit before I really knew all the statistics and all that blah, blah, blah stuff about it and I saw it in action. I saw that they partnered with Gleaners, which is what we're trying to do to get food for pennies on the dollar, take that food, make a full product and then give it to the people. Because a lot of the people don't have a way to cook the food, don't have a way to keep fresh food and a lot of the food that they're given is being thrown away. So, what good is it if I can't give you something again that's sustainable, but if we take those full products that's given, giving it to them in a hot meal, they can consume it and don't have to worry about trying to figure out where they got to store it, where they have to heat it up...