Feature : Kneaded Bakery
To keep things going on the Kneaded Bakery side , Chef Carlos and his team developed a meal delivery program where they would film themselves making a different meal each week and deliver it to families . “ The weekly meals were a huge hit , especially that first half of COVID where no one was getting take-out really . So getting a warm meal delivered from a local company that ’ s helping kids … I think people felt really good about that ,” said Rebecca Burdett , Chief of Operations Officer for RCS . They were also one of the first non-profit groups to come up with a safe , socially distanced form of fundraising where they delivered food to homes and had a scheduled Zoom event people could watch while they ate . These fundraisers were a great success and helped keep Kneaded Bakery in the minds of their community .
Kneaded Bakery ’ s new meal delivery venture gave Production Chef Southy and his apprentices the chance to focus on recipe development and create a whole new catering menu . When people requested custom orders from Kneaded , like ethnic foods , vegan , or kosher menus , Chef Southy was always up for the challenge . Known for having magic hands in the kitchen , Chef Southy created recipes that were both delicious and easy for his apprentices to learn . Now all of the meals that they created during the pandemic are available for customers who are interested in catering .
Southy is always fired up to take on new custom orders , “ I love the fact that we ’ re learning new things and it gives us the opportunity to try all kinds of food .” He and his team have also created a more sophisticated sauce and seasoning profile for their dishes , with different protein options to pair them with .
Over the course of the pandemic , the response to Culinary Academy and Kneaded Bakery ’ s efforts have been overwhelmingly positive . In the last year they have served 100,000 people virtually , not only in their area but in Los Angeles and San Francisco , and they have gotten calls from all over the state requesting their virtual classes and catering services . With the easing of COVID-19 restrictions , new catering bookings have been flooding in . “ Before COVID , the largest event we did was for Gavilan College for five hundred people . Now we ’ re getting weddings for two hundred people and fundraisers for two hundred or 240 person events . It ’ s not even the amount of catering , it ’ s the size of catering that ’ s going up ,” said Briggs . ( Continued ...)
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