Oakland Bloom Envisions a More Equitable and Cooperative Food Industry

September 6, 2024

When Claudia Luz Suarez and Javi Torres met working at a café together, they discovered their shared passion for all things coffee. But as migrant women, they did not see themselves reflected in the dominant coffee culture, which tends to skew white, male, and elitist, in an industry that is often plagued with low wages, long hours, and hard physical labor.

As a response, they founded Café con Cariño, a coffee project reflecting their Latin American heritages and shared values of joy, pleasure, and community care. “We are fancy, but we’re also cute, fun, and playful,” says Claudia. “You won’t walk away not realizing that we’re Chilean and Salvadorian and Mexican because our culture is infused in every flavor that we bring to the table.”

You can now find Café con Cariño popping up at Foodwise’s Mission Community Market alongside other immigrant and BIPOC entrepreneurs as part of a new collaboration with the food business incubator program Oakland Bloom.

Immigrant and BIPOC Food Entrepreneurs Flourishing Together

As Claudia and Javi began developing their business plan in 2021, they joined Oakland Bloom. Later, Claudia became the nonprofit’s Program Director, where she now helps other early-stage entrepreneurs incubate their businesses.

Oakland Bloom launched in 2015, with a focus on providing training and opportunities for Bay Area immigrant and refugee food entrepreneurs. Almost a decade later, the organization continues to advance economic equity in the food industry, while also reimagining what that industry can be.

“A lot of what we do is really about designing different pathways for business ownership for the population we serve, which is poor, working-class, migrant, and BIPOC chefs,” says Claudia. “A lot of them have families and full-time jobs. It’s something that they’re balancing with their regular lives.”

Establishing a food business is already a difficult undertaking in the Bay Area, with many financial and bureaucratic hurdles to legitimizing a business. Oakland Bloom’s chefs often face additional barriers, such challenges around immigration status or lack of access to generational wealth and capital. “We are not a direct access organization, and yet there is a need for direct access when you are working with these populations,” Claudia shares. “You have to work with chefs coming from a more holistic approach.”

Oakland Bloom’s flagship offering is their year-long Open Test Kitchen (OTK) food business incubator program, where beginning entrepreneurs receive commercial food training, business development coaching, access to a commissary kitchen, and hands-on opportunities such as restaurant shifts and catering gigs. At a given time, Oakland Bloom works with 15 to 20 chefs at different stages of their business.

Asúkar: Honoring Palestinian and Cuban Roots

The child of Palestinian immigrants, Nikki Garcia was born and raised in San Francisco in a traditional household where her mother did all the cooking. Growing up, she didn’t enjoy being in the kitchen, but that later changed when she had children of her own. “I began cooking, and I actually love it. It’s my art. I get to be very creative and make the plates very colorful and beautiful. I use very good ingredients,” she says.

Inspired by both her Palestinian heritage and her husband’s Cuban roots, she launched her food business Asúkar in 2020. “Food sovereignty is very important to me, and I am unapologetically loud and proud Palestinian,” Nikki says. “I feel it’s important to spread the love and beauty of my culture and my family’s culture, especially in these days and times when our land, culture, and identity are being erased.”

Though she had worked for years in the grocery business, she hadn’t worked in restaurants. As she sought out commissary kitchen space, she discovered the Oakland Bloom’s Open Test Kitchen program, which seemed to provide the kind of food business education she was looking for. 

“Oakland Bloom has afforded me many opportunities and a lot of resources,” she says. “Just being around other folks and chefs helped me realize that I didn’t really need a culinary background. It gave me confidence that I was kind of lacking.”

Building Equity at the Farmers Market

Since July, Nikki, Claudia, and Javi have been popping up together at Oakland Bloom’s tent at Foodwise’s Mission Community Market on Thursdays. You’ll find Asúkar’s spice blends, hummus, and empanadas sitting cozily alongside Café con Cariño’s café de olla cold brew and Quesadilla Salvadoreña (a buttery, cheesy pound cake).

Foodwise first partnered with Oakland Bloom in 2017 at the Jack London Square Farmers Market in Oakland, but this year, the two organizations formalized a partnership through Foodwise’s Building Equity program, which offers market opportunities and support for early-stage BIPOC entrepreneurs.

In addition to a quarterly residencies at the Mission farmers market, Oakland Bloom entrepreneurs are also making appearances at Foodwise’s Pop-Ups on the Plaza events, including the recent Juneteenth on the Waterfront and upcoming Fall Kickoff, where That Hausa Vegan’s Sitalbanat Muktari will be serving Nigerian food and hosting a cooking demo.

Popping up at farmers markets is a newer offering for Oakland Bloom chefs, which provides exposure to different audiences and practice in building a consistent public presence. Through the Building Equity program, Foodwise subsidizes permit fees and loans equipment to help lower barriers to entry. “It has really made a difference for the chefs in our program,” Claudia says.

Foodwise’s Operators Coordinator Deven Okry shares, “Partnering with Oakland Bloom grows our Building Equity program because they work with entrepreneurs from different cultures, and it allows consumers to experience their food and try different cuisines. I definitely have expanded my palette just from trying the different offerings from their vendors.”

Though market shoppers are sometimes confused by the presence of two businesses at the same booth, it showcases the collaborative values of Oakland Bloom. “It’s been really fun and sweet,” says Claudia. “It’s nice to go to a place where people are really intentional with their dollars. They want to be here, and they want to buy your product.”

From Understory to OTK Restaurant: Collaborative Models for Food Entrepreneurship

Oakland Bloom’s cooperative approach to business development is a foundation of their work to transform a restaurant industry that is often harmful and exploitative of workers, particularly communities of color. 

That work began in collaboration with the groundbreaking collective restaurant Understory at 528 8th Street in Oakland. In addition to operating the restaurant, Understory’s worker-owner chefs also taught OTK courses, with Oakland Bloom participants using the kitchen and occasionally popping up at the restaurant. 

Understory announced its departure from that space in May, opening up opportunities for Oakland Bloom. Launching this Saturday, the new OTK restaurant, bar, and café will be a multi-operator restaurant concept led by Oakland Bloom chefs, and a community hub for cultural events. To kick it off, you’ll find Café con Cariño, Asúkar, and That Hausa Vegan offering their Latinx-rooted coffee, Palestinian-Cuban cuisine, and Nigerian fare together.

“We’re really leaning on the chefs in our network who are excited, who are able to be interdependent, who are ready to scale and build that consistency, and who have a strong following, to hold the space,” Claudia says.

Visit the Open Test Kitchen at 528 8th Street, Oakland, and find Oakland Bloom’s tent at the Mission Community Market and Thursdays, 3-7 pm.

Topics: Building Equity program, Entrepreneurship, Food justice