A Blue Door is opening to a bright future for boys and girls in Tarrant County.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tarrant County has launched Blue Door Kitchen, an initiative designed to improve club members’ meal experiences, enhance the organization’s workforce development efforts, and support its overall mission through cost savings and social enterprise.
“Creating healthy, happy kids starts with full tummies. We saw a need to improve the food we were serving our members every day,” said Daphne Barlow Stigliano, the nonprofit’s CEO and President.
The $2 million project was funded by Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tarrant County (BGCGTC) and private donations. It involved remodeling an existing space into a state-of-the-art production kitchen that will produce healthy meals and snacks for 3,500 members each day.
Blue Door Kitchen is situated in the clubs’ Nicholas and Louella Martin Branch, which serves about 200 club members after school and in the summer. But the facility’s reach does not stop there.
The Blue Door Kitchen initiative also serves as a training ground for club members interested in a career in culinary arts, and will eventually offer nutritious, low-cost meals for club members’ families and the surrounding community. BGCGTC is able to enhance the quality of the food it currently serves children through U.S. Department of Agriculture funding and provide healthier meals at a significantly lower cost.
“That means we can improve the quality of the food we feed our members, save money, and reinvest those savings into other programs and services that support our mission,” Stigliano said.
The mission of the organization is to provide a positive environment, supportive relationships, and opportunities to nurture academic success, character, and leadership.
Stigliano said the idea to create a modern commercial kitchen originally emerged from the challenges in helping kids succeed during the pandemic.
“The COVID-19 pandemic exposed basic needs within our communities – particularly around nutrition insecurity,” she said. “Fidelity Investments was a key partner in helping us develop a model in which we could pick up hot prepared meals from their kitchen, load them onto our buses, and deliver them to kids who were not able to get to the club.”
Stigliano said there was never a question as to whether BGCGTC could handle the volume of meals and the complexity of a project this big.
Then they received a boost from a few friends to help make it all come true. “We had another key partner in Jackson-Shaw, who helped take our inspiration to the next level by renovating the space and providing the culinary and hospitality expertise in the developmental stages, and then provided a leadership gift to support the project,” Stigliano said. “We also received support from the Amon G. Carter Foundation and private donations to make this a reality.”
Michelle Wheeler, Jackson-Shaw President and CEO, said her team is passionate about helping young people reach their potential.
“We are thrilled to see this dream become a reality for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tarrant County,” Wheeler said. “This investment also allows us to support the development of a pipeline of future talent in the hospitality industry that we serve.”
The Blue Door Kitchen features Executive Chef Chris Hallowell. He will create seasonal menus with fresh, locally sourced ingredients and scratch-cooking principles.
The kitchen has advanced technology and equipment that will keep meals hot and fresh. Three professionally equipped vehicles, including one donated by the Ladies Auxiliary of Arlington, will carry those meals out to 25 club locations every day. At its full capacity, Blue Door Kitchen will provide hot meals, and snacks daily for up to 3,500 club members in Tarrant and Denton counties, 90% of whom qualify for free or reduced lunch.
Stigliano said Blue Door Kitchen is home to three core initiatives:
- Feeding the future: Creating delicious, healthy meals and snacks for members daily.
- Culinary arts program: A professional training environment so young people ages 13 and older interested in the culinary arts now have an opportunity to learn cooking techniques and the skills needed to work in a commercial kitchen.
- Social enterprise: The plan is to put this kitchen to work for the community – by making low-cost, healthy takeout meals available.
“This is a first-of-its-kind enterprise for Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tarrant County, and we hope to set an example for other clubs around the country,” Stigliano said. “It’s exciting to know that our young people and their families will benefit from this venture for years to come.”
