A with Ben Jacobs & Matt Chandra

DTell us about you and your business. Where did you originally come from and what made you decide to go into the restaurant business?

TI am Ben Jacobs, a member of the Osage Nation, and I cofounded Tocabe : An American Indian Eatery and Tocabe Indigenous Marketplace with my partner, Matthew Chandra. The inception of Tocabe stemmed from the idea Matt and I had of sharing the essence of Native foods and community within a restaurant setting. Our concept was born out of the inspiration drawn from a restaurant opened by my parents, Jan and Tom Jacobs, back in 1989, located on Denver’s 16th Street Mall and known as Grayhorse: An American Indian Eatery. We consider Grayhorse as the prototype and inaugural establishment, as our concept was crafted in alignment with their distinctive style and presentation.

DWhat is your favorite part of your business?

TBuilding meaningful relationships and partnerships directly with Native food producers and companies while working to build a Native-specific supply chain that broadens the reach and accessibility of Native produced products.

DWhat is your motto or philosophy?

TSeed to Soul. Our daily mission revolves around creating innovative approaches that evolve the Native food system, spanning from nurturing the soil to ensuring the nourishment of people. While the farm-to-table concept embodies a certain beauty, we believe it falls short of comprehensively addressing all dimensions of a food system. Our dedication lies in gaining a deep understanding of, and actively supporting, the intricate development of this system.

DWhat do you consider your specialty?

TConnecting the Native food chain to consumers and being the conduit in making Indigenous foods available to all people. We’re working to build generational impact through selfdeterminant food systems and supply chains.

What is your goal for the next year? How has Tocabe changed/grown in the last year?

TWe strive to build more directto-consumer opportunities, providing further accessibility for Native produced products and prepared meals. Over the next year, we will be advancing our current prepared meal menu options along with launching ranges of protein cuts beginning with bison items, as well as launching meals specifically designed for children. Beyond this, we have plans and preliminary partnerships to expand our Direct to Tribe program, deepening our commitment to feeding Native people and Tribal communities.

Tocabe has changed and grown in a major way over the last year. Our original restaurant on 44th Ave has remained the rock of our company culture but we made the difficult decision to close and modify our Greenwood Village restaurant into a full production facility to support our prepared meal development. This year, we launched our ready-made, directto-consumer Harvest Meals, and the Marketplace has grown into its own stand alone warehouse to support the volume of ingredients we source. We are now able to receive, house and ship pallet loads of products all in one facility.

DHow are you unique?

TBeyond the obvious of being a Native foods-based company, we believe one of the unique aspects of our company is that we are building a truly American food system focused on Native and Indigenous foods and philosophy. From a Native first, local second approach, including building in logistical methods from distribution, we find our true uniqueness lies not only in building and fostering a full food system, but an economic system at the same time. By creating thriving relationships with producers, we are able to maintain high quality and consistent supply chain management while providing concrete economic impact in Native communities and businesses.

DTell us one thing that no one knows about you:

TTocabe’s diamond-shaped logo has hidden designs based off of Osage-style ribbon work. My grandmother was a master ribbon work artist, and my mother is still a family ribbon worker. These elements are a nod to both our family and our entire Osage community.

DWhat are you working on with President Biden’s Councils on Sports, Fitness, & Nutrition?

What does it mean to you to be appointed to the council?

TWorking with the PCFSN is an incredible honor. Having the opportunity to help support and advise the Biden administration from a Native perspective and giving our community voice is an amazing privilege. Through my short time on the council, I have met some truly amazing, progressive thinkers and community leaders. It is both inspiring and invigorating to have such a diverse group of individuals with an intense passion and desire to build toward a better future for us as Americans. As a council, we have developed internal subcommittees focused on building community engagement, nutrition education and physical activity.

DTell us about the Direct-toTribe Ready Meal Program and how the program is benefiting communities like Spirit Lake Nation:

TOur Direct-to-Tribe (D2T) program is a part of our commitment to feeding Native people and communities with highquality traditional meals while creating positive health impacts and accessibility to culturally significant Native produced food. The most important aspect of the D2T program is the convenience created through these prepared meals. Each meal we provide is microwave-ready and developed with an unwavering focus on promoting health.

Each product in the meals are sourced from the Tocabe Indigenous Marketplace and local producers, but many traditional ingredients are notorious for their time-intensive preparation.

For example, tepary beans take eight hours to cook and our braised bison is a 13-hour cooking process. We have been able to make these ingredients incredibly convenient, transforming traditional, time-consuming cooking methods into approachable, wellrounded and delicious meals that nourish the Spirit Lake community.

Tocabe offers Harvest Meals which are an innovative offering of menu items prepared with exceptional ingredients sourced from local and Native suppliers including the Bison Sonoran Bowl with a creamy wheat berry and white tepary bean blend, squash puree, roasted red bell peppers, Navajo-grown pinto beans, fresh zucchini, and fire-roasted nopales and green chili . A signature favorite at the Tocabe restaurant, Iko’s Green Chili Stew is now also a Harvest Meal, made with fire-roasted green chilis, seasoned ground beef, diced russet potatoes and sweet corn slow-cooked to create a hearty, homestyle stew. The Vegan Posu Bowl with Red Lake Nation wild rice is paired with roasted purple sweet potatoes, Great Northern white beans, fireroasted corn, and a pureed roasted squash sauce.

These meals are fully cooked, allowing recipients to simply heat and enjoy. Harvest Meals are not a subscription service and customers can conveniently order their meals at their leisure through the online marketplace at shoptocabe.com