encore Savor
Good Food, Good Cause
Young entrepreneur’s café serves meals with social impact by
Kit Almy
S
Brian Powers
easonal, local artisanal fare can be found on the menus of many area restaurants, but Feed the World Café, in Oshtemo Township, serves up something else: the opportunity to feed hungry people in the community with the purchase of every meal. Feed the World Café is a “social impact business” — a new breed of organization that earns profits but also addresses societal problems as part of its core purpose. Chef Patrick Mixis is the 25-year-old entrepreneur who dreamed up Feed the World Café after learning about the acute problem of hunger worldwide and locally. According to statistics compiled by the nonprofit food bank network Feeding America, more than 15 percent of Kalamazoo County’s population — and more than 18 percent of the county’s children — were food insecure in 2013, meaning they lacked reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. When Mixis learned that nearly one in six children were going hungry in his community, at first he got angry and then he got inspired.
Crispy Pork Belly with Blackberry Chocolate Pepper Sauce is an appetizer on Feed the World Café's menu. w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 17