Step inside the new Dog Tag Bakery in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., and your nose might tell you it’s just a place to buy some delicious scones, muffins and bread. But while it does sell freshly-baked goods, the bakery’s actual mission is to train wounded veterans how run a small business.
Ten wounded veterans comprise Dog Tag Bakery’s initial class of “fellows,” who take classes in baking, business management, marketing, inventory and more; the former soldiers work 15 hours a week in the bakery to gain hands-on business experience. Bakery general manager Justin Ford tells WTOP, “The bakery is a conduit to teach our fellows small business management.”
Phil Cassidy, board chair of Dog Tag Inc., adds, “At the end of the six month period, ideally, they’ve learned the skills to get on with their lives.”
Dog Tag Inc. has partnered with the Georgetown School of Continuing Studies to allow the vets to earn a certificate of business administration through the program.
Rebecca Sheir of WAMU spoke to some of the veterans participating in the program. Maurice Jones spent 22 years in the Army, working in I.T. and telecommunications before he was injured. He tells WAMU, “I want to start my own I.T. consulting firm,” and says of Dog Tag Bakery, “They treat us like adults, professionals. They don’t look at our disability as a hindrance or a disability at all. They’re looking to provide us with the skills and knowledge to progress and succeed in any endeavor we’ve got going on.”
MORE: For These Vets, There’s Solace in the Simple Act of Making Bread
Tag: baking
One Baker’s Legislative Crusade Helped Create 12,000 Home Businesses
California’s new Homemade Food Act has opened a door for anyone who wants to make a living off of selling their home-cooked goods—and it’s all thanks to a renegade baker named Mark Stambler.
Prior to the act, it was illegal for anyone to sell homemade food in California. The prohibition was meant to protect people from consuming unsafe foods, but it was bad for local entrepreneurs who wanted to sell food made from home. Stambler had been baking in his Los Angeles home for decades, but in 2011, he was forced to stop for 18 months after the Health Department caught wind of a Los Angeles Times profile of Stambler’s homemade French bread that he sold in stores.
MORE: This Farmer Delivers Local Food — From A Sailboat!
For the next year and a half, the baker crusaded against the homemade food restriction. With the help of Assemblyman Mike Gatto and local support, Stambler was able to draft the California Homemade Food Act that would allow anyone to sell food if they first passed a food safety course and used proper labeling.
California Gov. Jerry Brown gave his stamp of approval last month and said the act would “make it easier for people to do business in California.” Indeed, Forbes reports that Stambler’s efforts have allowed more than 12,000 California businesses to sell their homemade food legally. So far, county health departments have yet to hear a single complaint. Now that’s a win for California’s local food movement.