Our October Roundtable at Pathways Kitchen focused on how restaurants can build more supportive workplaces for young employees. Pathways Kitchen helps justice-impacted youth thrive, not just survive, through training, work opportunities, and individualized support.
The team walked us through their Youth Affirming Practices, a framework any operator can bring into their own restaurant. It starts with building relationships first, because young people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. The practices also emphasize talking with young employees rather than at them, modeling the behavior you expect, and creating a warm, welcoming space where everyone feels comfortable engaging.
We also learned about Pathways Kitchen’s culinary social enterprises, including catering, Thrive Meals family dinners, community events, and grab-and-go products sold at partner sites. These fund the mission while giving youth real work experience, and they sparked a great conversation about how restaurants can partner with social impact organizations to benefit their own teams.
The highlight was hearing directly from the young people who make Pathways Kitchen possible, as they shared their journeys through the program and into leadership roles on the team. Thank you to the Pathways Kitchen team for hosting us and sharing their work so openly.
Our October Roundtable at Pathways Kitchen focused on how restaurants can build more supportive workplaces for young employees. Pathways Kitchen helps justice-impacted youth thrive, not just survive, through training, work opportunities, and individualized support.
The team walked us through their Youth Affirming Practices, a framework any operator can bring into their own restaurant. It starts with building relationships first, because young people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. The practices also emphasize talking with young employees rather than at them, modeling the behavior you expect, and creating a warm, welcoming space where everyone feels comfortable engaging.
We also learned about Pathways Kitchen’s culinary social enterprises, including catering, Thrive Meals family dinners, community events, and grab-and-go products sold at partner sites. These fund the mission while giving youth real work experience, and they sparked a great conversation about how restaurants can partner with social impact organizations to benefit their own teams.
The highlight was hearing directly from the young people who make Pathways Kitchen possible, as they shared their journeys through the program and into leadership roles on the team. Thank you to the Pathways Kitchen team for hosting us and sharing their work so openly.