For Immediate Release
Contact: Patrick Bench
pbench@benchmark-strategies.com (e)
(617) 733-1290 (m)
Boston-based culinary staffing agency to build franchise program following 1,000th hire
(BOSTON) — March 15, 2016– Today at the New England Food Show Snapchef, a leading Boston-based culinary training, workforce development and staffing agency, announced the launch of its franchise business. The Snapchef franchise plan will offer entrepreneurs the opportunity to become successful in the growing industry of culinary staffing. The need for qualified culinary professionals exists locally, regionally, and nationally. The Snapchef franchise plans to build area agreements modeled off of the US Small Business Administration (SBA) recognized Snapchef Massachusetts model. This announcement marks Snapchef’s third significant economic development expansion in Massachusetts in the last six months and the hire of its 1,000th employee.
Snapchef is a chef-owned and operated organization that specializes in providing permanent and temporary culinary staff to the most prestigious food service companies in New England. Clients include major universities, hospitals, five-star hotels, and corporate cafeterias. Daniela and Todd Snopkowski, owners of Snapchef, recently were awarded the 2015 Small Business Person of the Year Award for Massachusetts by the SBA. The award recognized Snapchef for its positive impact on the small business sector and its workforce development efforts in Massachusetts.
“Boston is excited to celebrate Snapchef’s rapid growth in the city,” said Mayor Martin J. Walsh. “As we increase access to job opportunities in Boston, Snapchef becomes an effective and supportive partner and will look forward to their continued success.”
Snapchef expects to leverage the franchise to spur hiring plans in the region and nationally. Currently, Snapchef is evaluating regions of the United States for area franchise agreements. Specifically, Snapchef will be reviewing the downtown locations for their proximity to the region’s workforce and access to public transportation. The company will coordinate with serial franchise owners with experience in the culinary industry to find the best long-term partnerships.
“The franchise program is the next great phase for Snapchef. We have spent the last two years planning for this step. The Snapchef franchise program will allow our company to expand its reach nationally to provide major universities, hospitals, five-star hotels, and corporate cafeterias with the quality culinary professional they need to serve their clients. We will also seek to work with local and state economic development partners. Snapchef has been very fortunate to have such partners in the administrations of Massachusetts Governor Baker and Boston Mayor Walsh,” said Snapchef CEO, Todd Snopkowski.
Prior to expansion, industry veteran Snapchef CEO Todd Snopkowski created the Fast Track Curriculum (FTC) a vocational training program to allow adults with varying levels of culinary skills to develop new technical abilities while earning an income. The FTC addresses the critical gap in the culinary industry between minimum wage jobs and chefs trained at institutions of higher education. In the Snapchef training facilities in Boston and Worcester, employees complete ServSafe certification in food preparation and handling along with workplace safety training to serve a broad range of clients. To date, Snapchef has filled the 1,000 jobs through recruitment, job fairs and strong collaboration with career centers.
