While most high school seniors are thinking about prom or graduation plans, Austin (name changed for privacy) had to think about where he’d sleep at night, bouncing from couch to couch of anyone who would let him stay a night or two. The local American Job Center provided Austin with gas vouchers and a paid work experience at Soulcial Kitchen in Swansea, Illinois, just outside St. Louis—a mobile cloud kitchen enterprise offering food delivery, pickup, catering, and food trucks. Soulcial Kitchen’s mission is to serve great food, feed the hungry, and work with hospitality entrepreneurs to develop hospitality, customer service, and food truck business skills. Despite the adversity he was facing, Austin’s character, work ethic, and culinary skills shined through, so after his graduation, Soulcial Kitchen hired Austin as a full-time apprentice as a cook (restaurant and mobile). Today, Austin runs a food truck and is, according to Soulcial Kitchen founder and retired Brigadier General John Michel, “a blessing to have on our team which enables this business to bless others.”
Austin dreams of owning his own food truck and appreciates that his apprenticeship has helped him to get his food truck operator certification and a sense of what it will take financially to own his own truck someday, as well as saving money for college. He says, “I would definitely recommend the apprentice route when looking to get started in your long-term career to help you get a feel for what you’d be getting into and learning what it’s going to take to succeed.”
Publish Date: 08/27/2024