Not only does JBFC provide a home for girls and education for students, JBFC also operates a restaurant that makes delicious, farm fresh food!
Papa’s restaurant began two years ago with the multi-purpose mission of providing training for under-privileged youth in skills to navigate the service industry and as a way to support JBFC's overall mission to end rural poverty.
Guests and volunteers of JBFC can enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner at Papa’s and majority of the food comes straight from our own garden. We are proud to be the only farm to table restaurant in the area! Papa’s serves more than 40 meals a week to guests, as well as, local visitors who drive in from town just to enjoy a meal with us. A few of the popular dishes on the menu recently include chicken satay, bruschetta, filet mignon, spinach lasagna, stewed okra, roasted potatoes, and chocolate zucchini cake.
Is your mouth watering yet?
When guests visit Papa’s they are greeted by a hospitable staff lead by John, head waiter, Moses, head chef, Fatuma, head of housekeeping along with Deborah and Violet who help make everything run as efficiently as possible. Some members of the Papa’s staff worked in other areas of JBFC, before working at Papa’s. John for instance started as a Masaai guard watching over the JBFC campus before joining the Papa’s team. John says that he thoroughly enjoys his new position because he gets to meet new people, improve his English and create friendships with guests.
Likewise, Deborah began working at Papa’s 2 years ago as a farm hand. She is now happily a part of the Papa’s team and enjoys making pizzas and playing with the dough.
Just as our current Papa’s staff gains important experience in the service industry, we hope that in the future some of our own JBFC girls who aspire to be restaurant owners or hotel managers can also begin their training at Papa’s once they complete school. JBFC is creating a training program that will teach customer service, budgeting, time management, communications, culinary and housekeeping skills. Our goal is to be able to provide bright futures for our staff and girls and this is one way we hope to accomplish that.
So remember, next time you visit Papa’s you will not only receive delicious food in your belly but you will also be providing better work opportunities and education for our girls and local staff members. This is a cause we can all toast to!
Guest blogger, Lauren Lesch, is an administrative assistant to JBFC's Executive Director, Chris Gates. She joined the team in April and moved to Tanzania in May from Texas.
