Catalyst Consulting
We are committed to offering you the tools, services and leadership advice you need for your social enterprise job training program to thrive.
We use FareStart’s expertise and adapt network best practices to help clients design strong, effective programs that prepare individuals for jobs in the foodservice industry. We offer public workshops, customized discovery workshops and long-term consulting engagements to get your program off the ground.
In 2020, Catalyst Consulting supported 26 unique nonprofit organizations, prepared 3 new programs to launch, 9 programs to scale and delivered professional development training to 76 staff at 43 organizations.
Get to know our team!
Building Your Job Training Program
Use Our Student Curriculum
Building a new curriculum for your specific programming needs can drain time and resources. Our curriculum has been tested through FareStart’s culinary job training program since 1992 and adapted for dozens of consulting clients. Centered on industry-approved culinary core competencies, our curriculum can be molded to fit every business line. We will adapt our curriculum to suit your specific programming needs and ensure that content is appropriate for your students.
Program Structure Development
We will develop your student training schedule around the availability of your facility, staff and existing or proposed food production operations. Our curriculum can be customized to suit any foodservice operation training environment and has modules for mass food production, customer service, retail operations and more.
Wraparound Services Support for Your Student Needs
Supportive social services allow students to focus on their personal and professional development rather than worrying about housing, healthcare, or other essentials while in your program. Our team will work with you to determine what support your students will need and how your program can provide these services internally or through community partners.
Leverage FareStart Expertise
FareStart has 29 years of programming experience and graduates over 300 students a year from our Adult Culinary Program and Youth & Young Adult Barista Program. Get a firsthand look at their programs and talk with FareStart leadership about their experience in the field.
Balance Your Social Enterprise & Programming Needs
Business and Program Viability
Let us get your business ready to house a training program with proper research and realistic business goals. This includes market research guidance, viability of business revenue generation, and trainee integration.
Strategic Program & Business Planning
A strategic approach will ensure your program’s success in the early planning stages and save resources, time and money. Our team will work with you to set priorities, identify internal and external resources, plan staff expansion and align stakeholders around a shared mission.
Social Enterprise Accounting Structures
Our double bottom line approach to accounting will provide the structure your social enterprise needs to understand true costs and revenue. We provide insight on realistic revenue expectations, industry benchmarks and strategies to communicate your program’s funding model to stakeholders.
Integrate Quality Foodservice with Impactful Job Training
Our team can guide the process of incorporating trainees into daily food operations. We will build student schedules around your operational needs and adapt our Catalyst Curriculum to align lesson plans with skills learned in the kitchen.
Hire the Right Team
Hire the right staff to get your training program off the ground. Catalyst Kitchens' job descriptions and organizational charts will outline the unique roles and skillsets your program needs, ranging from education and training and to kitchen operations.
We hold workshops throughout the year for our clients and member programs to grow professionally and programmatically together.
Our consulting team offers a variety of services and customized consulting options to meet your program's needs and budget.
Our consulting team has worked with over 150 organizations since 2011 to help their programs graduate students into gainful employment.