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| Chef Michael Solomonov |
Nationally renowned, James Beard Award nominated, Philadelphia-based chef Michael Solomonov is launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund Rooster Soup Company, a gourmet soup restaurant with Philly’s Broad Street Ministry’s Hospitality Collaborative. The joint venture between Solomonov – known for Zahav and his Federal Donuts chain – and Bill Golderer’s Broad Street Ministry (BSM) will be the first crowd-funded restaurant in Philadelphia directing 100% of net profits to a nonprofit partner. “This story is about business and dreamers, Jewish and Christian, everyone,” says Golderer. The Rooster Soup Company Kickstarter begins June 11, and the target is $150,000.
“The wicked problems of hunger, homelessness, and poverty can feel insurmountable,” writes Golderer, founder and minister of BSM in an email. “The way forward is creativity. When unlikely collaborators like Broad Street Ministry and Federal Donuts join forces – new possibilities emerge. Getting in the game together leads us past helplessness, and allows us to envision radical new solutions.”
This year, BSM Hospitality Collaborative will serve more than 60,000 meals alongside essential social services to more than 3,500 unique people in the Philadelphia area. Part of how they’ll do that, through Solomonov and Rooster Soup Company, comes from using the un-needed chicken backs and bones from Federal Donuts’ four-store frying operation. “We can make nutritious chicken stock the basis of a variety of delicious soups for Rooster Soup Company,” writes Golderer. “The profit on a single bowl of soup is roughly equal to the cost of one meal with social services for a guest at BSM. From invites to a Rooster Soup Co. Pop-Up and blowout parties at Federal Donuts West Poplar, to the chance to grill ordained ministers about religion or go skydiving with Mike Solomonov, we are serious that you will have fun making Rooster Soup Co. a reality.”
Michael Solomonov photo ©Glamorosi 2012
Posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2014
