Main Street Facility to host company’s pioneering “Earn and Lean” workforce development
“Fast Track” program in collaboration with the New England Farm Workers’ Council
Springfield – June 28, 2017- Snapchef, the largest culinary staffing and training company in New England, announced plans for its 501c3 Snapchef Foundation to operate a culinary training and event innovation center in downtown Springfield. The Snapchef Center will serve western Massachusetts to bolster workforce development in the culinary and hospitality sectors.
The Center, located at 1600 Main Street, will act as a food product incubator and community event facility, as well as a location for culinary training and employment presentations for those seeking career opportunities. Snapchef founder and CEO Todd Snopkowski has been working in tandem with the New England Farm Workers’ Council (NEFWC), particularly with COO Vanessa Otero, its Chairman Herbie Flores, as well as with Jose Perez, to create this unique workforce development concept.
This collaboration is a perfect fit for both entities. The Snapchef Foundation is dedicated to positive social impact through workforce development via unique public and private community partnerships that provide culinary training for individuals interested in launching a foodservice career. NEFWC is also a non-profit agency; serving inner-city, low-income groups – particularly Hispanic in western and north-central Massachusetts, central Connecticut, Rhode Island and southern New Hampshire – with employment skills training and education. The two non-profit organizations will work together to provide the training and skills that food service workers need to launch their careers.
This initiative dovetails with Snapchef’s unique new collaboration with FutureWorks Career Center – the one-stop career center based in Springfield – designed to develop career paths in the culinary sector for Massachusetts residents. A member of the Massachusetts One-Stop Career Center System, FutureWorks helps people obtain the skills necessary to achieving successful employment and assists businesses in meeting their staffing needs. Services include no-cost workshops on résumé development, interviewing and networking.
The Snapchef Center will feature the company’s pioneering Fast Track “Earn and Learn” training curriculum and employment model to provide simultaneous skills training and paid employment opportunities for western Massachusetts residents while helping to address the lack of a trained culinary workforce in the region. The food industry’s gap in qualified employees affects hotels, corporate cafeterias, sports venues, universities, caterers and restaurants.
“Our goal at Snapchef is to provide Earn and Learn opportunities to professionals of all backgrounds. We see the Center as the future of culinary training, and our Fast Track training curriculum as a model for numerous industries,” said Snapchef’s Todd Snopkowski. “We’re grateful for, and excited to deepen our relationship with the Farm Workers’ Council, which is doing an outstanding job pulling in other organizations, people and young talent to support and benefit from this effort.”
Kevin Lynn, FutureWorks Executive Director, agrees: “In many cases, employers are adopting a ‘grow your own’ philosophy, whereby, instead of holding out for individuals who have the requisite skills upon arrival, they’re opting for taking rawer talent, if you will, and developing it.” He cited the example of Snapchef as one that embraces a model that others will likely have to follow. “They provide a five-day training course for people who want to get into the food-service business. Individuals learn all the basics, and Snapchef gets people into a job. This is probably the model that more employers are going to have to embrace.”
Snapchef’s Fast Track Culinary program was designed in collaboration with globally renowned culinary training expert Karl Guggenmos, WACS Master Chef, Dean Emeritus of Culinary Education at Johnson & Wales University, and founder of the global foodservice consulting form Culinary Solutions International.
The Snapchef Center is the latest in a series of announcements by the company. In the last year, Snapchef opened a central Massachusetts location/headquarters in Worcester. Recently, Snapchef joined with Boston Public Schools in a public-private partnership to support culinary innovation at Madison Park Vocational School. Also, The Snapchef Center played host to a workforce development event convened by the New England Farm Workers’ Council, to promote career opportunities in the culinary, engineering, technology and construction trade industries.
In addition to the New Farm Workers’ Council, Snapchef is collaborating in Springfield with the following business and economic development organizations; the City of Springfield, Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce, MassDevelopment, and the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council.
About Snapchef
Snapchef is a chef-owned and operated company that specializes in providing culinary staff, in both temporary and permanent placements, to the most prestigious food service companies in New England. Clients include major universities, hospitals, five-star hotels, sports arenas, restaurants, caterers and corporate cafeterias. Daniela and Todd Snopkowski, owners of Snapchef, were awarded the 2015 Small Business Person of the Year Award for Massachusetts by the SBA. For more information, visit: www.snapchef.com.
About the Snapchef Foundation
The Snapchef Foundation is dedicated to positive social impact in the regions in which Snapchef operates by celebrating food as art and personal expression, sustenance, workforce development and community building, through three primary areas of focus:
- developing unique public and private community partnerships that provide free culinary training for individuals interested in launching a foodservice career
- alleviating hunger by providing meals for local community members
- creating and supporting foodservice education initiatives and scholarship opportunities for students at vocational technical schools, community colleges and universities
The 501c3 foundation was established in July, 2015 by Snapchef founder and CEO Todd Snopkowski and his wife Daniela, along with the help and support of WACS Master Chef and Johnson & Wales University Dean Emeritus Karl Guggenmos.
About New England Farm Workers’ Council
In addition to migrant and seasonal farm workers and their families, the agency serves inner-city, low-income groups, particularly Hispanic in western and north-central Massachusetts, central Connecticut, Rhode Island and southern New Hampshire. NEFWC programs emphasize employment skills training and education coupled with necessary support as the only sure means out of poverty and social dependency. Providing a hand up rather than a handout is the agency’s approach to social service. For more information, visit: http://www.partnersforcommunity.org/default/index.cfm/about-pfc/affiliates-programs/nefwc/
