Hey there, I am back with another guest from the great city of Detroit. This is Romy, and I have the pleasure of introducing you to Chef Bee and Jasmine of social enterprise Detroit S.O.A.R! They have an inspiring story of joining together around health food for some very interesting reasons. This is a true story of how we are better together! Stay tuned at the end for a really fun song by a Detroit artist. As a matter of fact, you might want to find your dancin’ shoes while you are listening, so you are ready.

Before we hear from Jasmine and Chef Bee, let’s see what Luke found for us on this episode’s fun fuel

Hi, this is Luke Trombley, and I am bringing you the fun fuel for this episode.

While on the topic of mobile food, nearly 795 million people in the world do not have enough to eat. That is approximately one in nine people. 98% of the worlds undernourished population live in developing countries. Thanks to companies like Detroit Soar, that bring food to people who don't get enough to eat, the world hunger problem has dropped from 23.3 percent in developing nations to 12.9 percent.

Thank you for listening to this fun fuel. Enjoy the Episode!

Thank you, Luke! Listening to those statistics, it really makes me thankful for the work of Detroit SOAR. Let’s listen in now….

Romy:

We're excited to have you. You guys [crosstalk 00:00:22 ]. Yeah, you guys were ... we met cause you were winners at a Build Social event in Detroit. Right?

Jasmine R:

Yeah. So, we were in an eight-week business accelerator to help us learn how to build a business while still doing a social mission and making a profit. And we met you at our pitch competition for that.

Romy:

Yeah. Lucky for me! Yeah, so let's, first of all, let our listeners know about Detroit SOAR and ... I don't know is that the name you use or do you say Sisters On A Roll? Can we clarify that right out of the gate?

Chef Bee:

Yes. We can clarify that. Sisters On A Roll is my personal company, and me and Jasmine met through that company, and together we became partners to do Detroit SOAR, which is Sharing Opportunities And Resources.

Romy:

Okay. Glad to know that. Okay, so Detroit SOAR is Sharing Opportunities And Resources. Alright, I love it. And then do you still have your other company going, Chef Bee?

Chef Bee:

Yes. That's the company through which we do the catering for Detroit SOAR -

Romy:

Okay.

Chef Bee:

And everybody else.

Romy:

And you really go by ... you're really most known as Chef Bee. Right?

Chef Bee:

I am.

Romy:

And why is that? Let's go back in history just a little bit.

Chef Bee:

Oh, we're going way back. I was in the kitchen when Tony from Andiamo's and it was two Browns in the kitchen. So, he called me Chef Bee.

Romy:

Okay -

Chef Bee:

And I've been going by Chef Bee ever since.

Romy:

So that's so good. So, what is Detroit SOAR?

Chef Bee:

Detroit SOAR is a way that we reach the people through the medium of food.

Jasmine R:

Yeah. So what we're trying to do when Chef Bee and I met we had a lot in common, and one of the things was our passion over food and our passion to serve the community through food. So, what we wanted to do was create a company where we could pull both of those together. So, what we normally tell people when they ask us, "What is Detroit SOAR?" is we say it's a mission driven café that helps bring the community together through food and events.

Romy:

Now, are you mobile [inaudible 00:02:41 ]?

Jasmine R:

So, we are mobile. So right now for the past like six months or so Chef Bee and I have really been focused on doing a lot of pop-up events. So, I know people have seen us at Eastern Market, at [Marlow 00:02:51 ] Farmer's Market, at Campus Munches, a couple other pop-up places. And then we are working on becoming mobile. So, we have a couple of food trucks. One we are very close to finishing up licensing for it and then we'll be on the road, you know, being able to go around Detroit serving different areas. And then we have an additional food truck that we're trying to build out for the winter. Cause our current one only runs on diesel, which tends to gel up when it gets cold. So we have another one that runs on gas that we can use a little bit easier during the winter months.

Romy:

So, nice. Alright. And so the purpose, just to get real basic for our listeners, the purpose is to deliver nutritional food, right, to some of those that might not have access to it?

Chef Bee:

Yes. That would be our end goal ... First of all, we want to be sustainable, so we want to be able to provide a service to the people that's already in the food deserts and also serve the people that are going through food injustice. And the flip side of that is offering everybody else; we're offering everyone healthy food service. Our food service, we want you to think about it a little bit differently. Like, yeah, you can get fried chicken anywhere, but how about maybe an oven friend chicken versus something greasy. You know what I'm saying? Or -

Romy:

Mm-hmm (affirmative)-

Chef Bee:

Try it this way. We take different cultures of food and familiarize it for you. So, then you can taste the flavor of love, too.

Romy:

And Chef Bee, what's the reason why you want to deliver some nutritional food?

Chef Bee:

I come from outreach ministry. So, I'm always feeding someone. And I see the quality of the food that the big non-profit companies give to some of the people, and it's horrible. Like, I don't want to put this on the air, but I'm gonna say it. Like Red Cross food trucks ... they give the people watered down soup, maybe a piece of fruit, and green hot dogs. And I think that's horrible. Like, how is that gonna sustain somebody? You know what I'm saying? -

Romy:

Yeah.

Che