Small Batch Makes Big Impact

JACOB SCHOENKNECHT, Small Batch Director, Detroit Food Academy

Detroit Food Academy (DFA) is an entrepreneurial non-profit working with local educators, chefs, and business owners to inspire young Detroiters through experiences rooted in food. From cooking healthy meals for friends and family to facilitating complex conversations within the community, students learn by transforming their ideas into reality. DFA offers free culinary entrepreneurship programs to students in Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park. The academy teaches the fundamentals of cooking: knife skills, food safety, recipe scaling, business, nutrition, and food systems. Participating students create their own food-based projects, including creating and selling their own product at a local market.

For advanced students, the DFA offers an intensive experience to scale their own unique, food-rooted project. This paid program teaches advanced culinary skills as they cook a multi-course meal for folks in the community, host a food fair, and teach cooking skills to their near-peers. Youth also gain food career experience working in our 3 youth-run Small Batch businesses: Mitten Bites granola bars, Slow Jams jam, and the Detroit Pop Shop gourmet ice pops. In summer, advanced students intern at good food businesses citywide, while also meeting regularly to design and launch new Small Batch products at local farmers markets, restaurants, coffee shops and retail outlets.

Every sale of Mitten Bites, Slow Jams Jam, and Detroit Pop Shop directly supports wages and programming for our youth and alumni and funds the free programming we provide to 2,500 youth across Detroit.

Learn more at detroitfoodacademy.org