Spice Happenings - Spice Kitchen Incubator Receives Blue Plate Award
This year [Spice Kitchen Incubator’s Spice To Go], already an essential resource for refugees, became, well, even more essential. When coming to this country, refugees often have nothing but a few clothes and their cooking skills; Spice helps these displaced people find their financial feet again by sharing their culture and food. With COVID restrictions limiting dine-in service and the incubator’s event catering program, Spice-to-Go became the focus, allowing the kitchen to keep sharing international food experiences serving Utah’s vulnerable refugee community.
Each year, Salt Lake Magazine editors honor growers, food evangelists, grocers, servers, bakers, chefs, bartenders and restaurateurs with the Blue Plate Awards. A Blue Plate Award is given to an establishment or an individual who has done more than put good food on the table. They’ve created culture, made acts of kindness and education and are paragons of service that goes beyond.
Spice Happenings - Nourish to Flourish chefs feed the city
As a young restaurant owner, Kiki Sharma has a difficult time deciding which menu item is her favorite. At Bhutan House, her family’s restaurant that she runs with her father, she particularly likes anything spicy, especially their chewy momos. Recently though, the environment of their restaurant looks different. In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Bhutan House has gone through a number of shifts, including their participation with the Nourish to Flourish Initiative.
Nourish to Flourish initiated out of conversations that recognized food insecurity caused by the pandemic and wanted to support local restaurants, economically hit during this time.
Volunteer Opportunity - Community Food Box Volunteers
Spice Kitchen in looking for volunteers to assist in the kitchen with packaging products into boxes and delivering them to customers via contactless curbside pick up!.
Community Food Boxes is a pre-order delivery service that offers cold and ready-to-heat meals, appetizers, and desserts made locally by Spice Kitchen entrepreneurs with 100% of profits going back to the featured chefs!
Spice Happenings - Spice Kitchen's chef Abudu hosts fundraiser Yemeni children
Meals center on our culture, our ideas of home and family, they open up the community to a broader table. Sitting down to eat together can be powerful. Of all the questions that come up when opening a food business, though, Abudu of Kafé Mamai acknowledges that ’why’ is the most complex. For Abudu this may be especially true. While he loves to share his “culture and experience,” he is also passionate about using his small business to support others in his local community and around the globe. In August, Abudu worked to organize a fundraiser in support of Yemeni children.
Spice Kitchen supports with small business emergency loans
As soon as Salt Lake City Mayor Mendenhall’s Emergency Loan Program launched, the Spice Kitchen team started contacting small business owners in the program. They ensured every entrepreneur who qualified for the loan received the help they needed to complete their loan applications.
Rep. Ben McAdams visits Spice Kitchen Incubator
In early February, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Salt Lake City’s Spice Kitchen Incubator hosted Congressman Ben McAdams and colleague Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy (FL) at a gathering focused on meeting with refugee aid community leaders and learning more about programs that help refugees and other New Americans reach self-sufficiency. The meet-and-greet type event brought together community leaders, supporters, and service providers who support refugee resettlement in Salt Lake City and the greater state of Utah.
Salt Lake City Community Shows Up to Sponsor Spice Kitchen Incubator's Build-Out
The Salt Lake City community showed up in great numbers to help raise funds for our new kitchen, cafe, and store front recently! Hosted by Creminelli Fine Meats, Traeger Grills, and Harmon's Grocery, the Discover Food Festival brought Spice Kitchen Incubator entrepreneurs together with local refugee advocates and philanthropists to enjoy global cuisine and raise funds for a new build-out in the Granary district of downtown Salt Lake City.
Partnership with Kiitos Continues to Grow
Last spring, Hayat's Grill began developing a frozen product to sell at Kiitos Brewery, a local brewery located in the Granary district of Salt Lake City. Cauliflower korma is currently available for patrons of Kiitos to purchase, and soon enough there will be baklava and samosas!