Carey Services opens Kitchen coMPany to the public

Carey Services opened its Kitchen coMPany to the public on July 16. 

“I’m very excited to see where this goes with the public,” kitchen coordinator April Weaver said.  

The Kitchen coMPany opened in March internally at Carey Services, serving staff and preorders only, to introduce the kitchen to the people interested in learning about food service work. 

“It’s been great. They’re very kind and caring and they do an excellent job and they work fast-paced. And everyone respects everyone,” said Cassie, who works in the kitchen. 

People working in the kitchen are paid Carey Services employees. 

“The hope is that then, as they learn, they have a desire to go out and get a community-based job,” said director of fund development, Kelly Scher. 

The feedback from the Kitchen coMPany has been positive thus far. They did catering for the Grant County 4-H fair back in June, Scher said.

“They’ve been really supportive already of what we’re doing,” she said. “They’re getting good quality food made with a purpose behind it as well, so it’s pretty exciting.”

Carey Services leadership has been talking about adding a coffee service to the kitchen.

“We have some partnerships,” Scher said. “We announced that we are finally in the final stages of some new partnerships with the Milk and Honey out in Converse, and I’m not sure of a date yet, but we will be offering Milk and Honey drinks here.”

Leadership has also talked about opening a brick-and-mortar store down the line as their kitchen continues to grow.

“It’s been different for me. I’ve never been in food service,” Cassie said. “So, it’s been more of a harder (learning) curve, but it’s also been like a curve of…me getting out of my comfort zone.”

Carey Services also announced it opened its Marketplace to the public and started a partnership with the Grant County Rescue Mission to sell items at reNEWed Boutique.

“I’m looking to see that it helps encourage our individuals to better themselves and have that public interaction, to show compassion to the public, and be a part of that,” Weaver said. 

The Kitchen coMPany is open Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.