GW grads plan to launch online channel dedicated to food-industry voices currently lacking a microphone.
Kevin Doyle, CCAS BA ’13 and Tae Kim, ESIA BA ‘13 lived somewhat parallel lives in college. Each attended GW, detoured for a degree at Le Cordon Bleu culinary academy in Paris, immersed himself in the D.C. food scene, and dreamed of finding new ways to give back to society.
But their paths never crossed until after college at, fittingly, a meal. Kim was chef that night at Miriam’s Kitchen, the soup kitchen close to campus, where he then worked. Doyle, who founded his own restaurant consulting business, was volunteering on the floor and serving meals to guests.
“Our friendship started there,” says Kim, “and we started to get to know each other, and started eating more together, and we ended up trying to help each other out when we can.”
Their friendship has further developed into a business partnership framed around finding ways to advance shared goals of promoting sustainability and equity in the restaurant world. Their first venture will launch soon, likely by the end of 2018: an online video roundtable series. They’ll invite a panel of guests, sit down for a meal, and let the conversation flow naturally, as the cameras roll.
“I’m going to be bringing together my Rolodex and we’re going to be eating and drinking and talking,” Doyle says.
“We wanted to bring everyone around the table, because food always brings us together, and have those discussions with people who normally don’t get heard,” Kim continues.
Topics haven’t been set yet, although they definitely plan an early episode about Initiative 77, the controversial measure in the District to require restaurants to pay servers and other employees with tip-based income the same minimum wage as others who don’t get tips.
A major goal will be to feature a wide range of voices and perspectives, from restaurant owners to line cooks, and go beyond the “usual suspects” of District officials and the journalists who write about them. They mention as examples up-and-coming female chefs, employees at small neighborhood restaurants, and people who deal with food from a sustainability or trade point-of-view.
Doyle points out that Washington boasts not just an up-and-coming food scene. It’s “already there,” as evidenced by an incredible amount of local talent who are opening businesses in their own neighborhoods. They aim to create media that celebrates that growth and gives voice to its many players.
The venture fits perfectly with the paths they both followed at GW. Both describe themselves as students who, by working in the industry and learning from trusted mentors at GW, became passionate students of the food economy in a holistic sense.
Kim found guidance and inspiration from Richard Skolnik, then the director of the Center for Global Health at GW. At the time, Kim worked full-time at a restaurant and had become disillusioned by the industry. Regular meetings with Skolnik, a global health specialist whom Kim calls “my uncle,” changed his course.
“He opened my eyes to food as a public good,” he says. “How do we think about the economics around food, whether it’s food deserts, or why is it unreasonable to expect a low-income household to cook for themselves when you have two jobs and you don’t really have time? He was the one who really shifted my focus to thinking about food more broadly as a part of life.”
This prompted a change to Kim working on hunger and nutrition efforts in Africa and, later, at Miriam’s Kitchen. Currently, he’s following another passion, teaching and tutoring for the GRE at Sherpa Prep, but his passion still burns for food issues.
Doyle credits lunch-with-a-prof sessions with sociology professor Ivy Ken for opening his eyes and steering him in a new direction. He came in with the romantic idea of opening a restaurant, with a set plan to open various concepts around the city. It was through his time spent at GW and in Washington where he learned how food could be used as a vehicle for social change. Today, Doyle runs restaurantsunited.org, and also sits on the Board of World Central Kitchen, José Andrés’ nonprofit.
“I was exposed to the idea of how lucky we are that we have access to food,” he says. “Professor Ken showed me the non-sugarcoated version of the food world.”
He then worked with her on his thesis about food deserts in the District and came away humbled but still hopeful.
“Writing the thesis was a great experience,” Doyle says. He remains involved with some of the charities he encountered in researching the thesis and sees his current work as a “full circle” return to the mission he committed himself to while at GW. Even better, he’s got another Colonial with him for the adventure.
— Dan Simmons
