I am working at FoodLab Detroit this summer, on the Detroit Grown and Made project. FoodLab is a community of food entrepreneurs, meaning small food business owners, who are committed to “making good food in Detroit a sustainable reality.” These business owners range from owners of established restaurants, to food truck owners, to people who are currently trying to turn their hobby into a profitable food business. FoodLab works to help these businesses be Triple Bottom Line, meaning they focus on profit, planet, and people. My project is specifically focusing on the planet aspect of 3BL. I am going to be surveying FoodLab member businesses to see how much of their produce they are locally sourcing right now, what the biggest challenges are to local sourcing, what the easiest parts are, and how important it is to them. This information will be used to showcase businesses that are doing a good job of locally sourcing, which is better for the environment and local economy in many ways. Further, the information about the most difficult parts will be able to be used to hopefully increase the number of member businesses that are locally sourcing.
To me, one of the best parts of working at FoodLab is seeing how they truly get input from their members, and do not act like they, as the overarching business, know everything. One of FoodLab’s guiding principles is “Be humble to be great,” which I think portrays something very special about it. For my project, for example, it is a collaboration between FoodLab and Keep Growing Detroit, another Detroit non-profit focused on food sovereignty in the city. I am excited to work and learn from KGD, because they can definitely add a lot to my project that I wouldn’t be able to just find at FoodLab.
My first full week plus a few days here in Detroit has been great overall. I love my job, from the project I am working on to the space I am in (the Green Garage is very possibly the nicest office I will ever work in, so thanks for setting very high expectations!), to my awesome coworkers who make staff meetings something I look forward to. I have also been loving my time off of work here, even though it is weird to have the “adult” schedule of working 9-5 then being completely free.
