Culinary Academy and Kneaded Bakery :
Business from the Heart
By Crystal Han • Images by Krys Pena
IMAGES : Culinary Academy graduates complete 12-16 month apprenticeship training at Kneaded Bakery , learning both culinary and life skills . Leading from the heart , Chef Carlos , Andrew Briggs and Kishon Southy manage a life changing , successful program and successful community business model .
Gilroy ’ s Culinary Academy and Kneaded Bakery are coming up on their tenth anniversary and what better way to celebrate than with a rebrand and relaunch of their business . Operating under Rebekah Children Services ( RCS ), Culinary Academy prepares disadvantaged youth for careers in the hospitality industry and Kneaded Bakery was created to help fund the cost of that program . Since the program started in 2009 , 1600 youth have graduated from Culinary Academy and the kids have held a 98 percent job placement rate for eight years and counting . Love and dedication have always been at the heart of the Culinary Academy and Kneaded Bakery . Nothing shines a light on this more than how they handled the shutdowns caused by the pandemic . “ At that point with where we were with Kneaded Bakery it felt like this faucet that was just pouring out water — which was all the events that were getting booked and planned and starting to fill up our calendar — and then someone just came and turned it off ,” Andrew Briggs , Kneaded ’ s catering coordinator , said of those first few months . Chef Carlos , Briggs , and Kishon Southy , who serve as the backbone of Culinary Academy and Kneaded Bakery , knew that shutting things down until the COVID-19 restrictions lifted wasn ’ t an option . “ A lot of these students , with where they ’ re coming from , you ’ re putting them back in those environments that they ’ ve worked so hard to break away from ,” said Briggs . They knew they had to find ways to keep their students working .
Since teaching in person was no longer an option , Chef Carlos and his team quickly pivoted to virtual classes . Equipped with just a smartphone , they started filming cooking lessons and posting them on Facebook Live and Instagram Live . Their fun , energetic personalities quickly garnered thousands of views on YouTube , Facebook , and Instagram , and the classes were such a hit that they eventually received funding for better filming equipment . Now they are creating top-notch cooking classes for their students and the public . People as far as New York and Florida are reaching out to them to make specific classes .
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