Café Reconcile alumni hone beer-making skills

By Christine Bordelon

What happened when local micro-brewery Zony Mash decided to join San Antonio-based, Black-owned Weathered Souls Brewery's global initiative to create awareness about racial equity and then involve Café Reconcile? A local imperial stout beer blend of "Black is Beautiful."

Zony Mash's owners Mitch Grittman and Adam Ritter heard about the "Black is Beautiful" campaign from Weathered Souls Brewery and wanted to help open a conversation about inequality and then partnered with local nonprofit Cafe´ Reconcile, whose mission is to train young Black adults for local hospitality jobs. 

"Cafe´ Reconcile is the perfect partner for the Black is Beautiful Beer campaign," Ritter said. "At Cafe´ Reconcile, a diverse community comes together daily to enjoy a meal, share a conversation and support young people who attend their program to find their potential and pursue their dreams."

The local partnership prompted Zony Mash to study Cafe´ Reconcile's menu and choose one of its signature side dishes “ sweet potato crumble“ that could be infused into Weathered Souls' original base stout "Black is Beautiful" recipe to produce a unique, local "Black is Beautiful" blend. 

"It's a dark, rich, chocolatey beer," said Caitlin Scanlan, chief development officer at Cafe´ Reconcile. "Zony Mash put their own thumbprint on it. It's really a true collaboration." 

Worldwide spotlight
More than 1,000 breweries across 50 states and 19 countries joined the "Black is Beautiful" campaign, creating unique beer blends in their area, Scanlan said.

"The Black is Beautiful label, platform and collaboration is about understanding and supporting people of color," said Ritter, co-owner of Zony Mash. "We believe that actions are the best expression of belief, and we are proud to be a part of the Black is Beautiful Beer campaign with Cafe´ Reconcile."

Cafe´ Reconcile will receive a percentage of sales from the local brew blend, which will help the nonprofit as it struggles to continue offering training to disadvantaged Black young adults while supporting its alumni, many who lost jobs in the hospitality industry during the pandemic and are now unemployed or underemployed.

"We believe our work is about empowering," Scanlan said. "We believe our young people have all the talent and creativity in the world. We believe in removing barriers that have stood in the way of them reaching their potential."

Reinventing job training
Cafe´ Reconcile's daily food operations and workforce training program “geared to young adults ages 16-24“ was forced to change when the pandemic struck in mid-March and temporarily closed the lunch-only restaurant. Cafe´ Reconcile began focusing on its alums by distributing thousands of "Meals of Hope" and connecting alumni to resources such as unemployment benefits, mental health counseling, SNAP applications, remote case management, weekly online workshops that helped youth update resumes and apply for jobs and even individual grants for immediate assistance with groceries, diapers and medication.

"We're trying to help alumni stay safe and stable, have a safe place to turn to in crisis and have a support system when they are able to get back to work," Scanlan said.

The Zony Mash project worked to help alumni Rendell Jones and Delvin Davis identify job skills that could be used in a new work environment. They learned the beer-making industry from top to bottom "from milling the grain, to brewing and finally canning the beer."

Davis, who gained food industry experience at Emeril's Delmonico, the Hyatt Regency New Orleans, the NOPSI Hotel and the International Culinary Center in New York, became unemployed during the pandemic. He jumped at the chance to learn a new skill.

"I have experienced a lot of things that would have never been possible without Reconcile," Davis said. "I prepared meals with Chef Eugene at a Miss America pageant. I cooked at Essence Fest. And now, I have the Zony Mash experience on my resume´, and I know the brewing process. I have skills that can be transferred to a wide range of industries as I continue to look for a stable job."

Cafe´ Reconcile will serve the beer at lunch and will sell four-packs soon. The cafe´ is open for lunch weekdays from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., for dine-in and take-out from its menu with daily specials at www.cafereconcile.org. Call (504) 568-1157 to reserve a table inside or in the courtyard. (Zony Mash opened in the old Gem Theatre on Thalia Street in New Orleans and also sells the new blend.)

Christine Bordelon can be reached at [email protected].

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Café Reconcile supports its out-of-work alumni,https://clarionherald.org/news/cafe-reconcile-supports-its-out-of-work-alumni