Image: Contributed
This year, Okanagan Edge and the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce have partnered to showcase some of the Okanagan’s most exciting entrepreneurs, through the Top 40 Under 40 program.
Sponsored by BDO, the Top 40 Under 40 recognizes innovative young professionals in our community and showcases their accomplishments.
Okanagan Edge will feature a new honouree each week, so check back often.
This week we recognize Michael Buffett, a read-seal chef who runs the social enterprise Start Fresh Kitchen.
Image: Contributed
By trade, Buffett is a red-seal chef, be he says by nature a he’s a “teacher and community leader.”
After spending 14 years behind the scenes in kitchens across Canada, in 2015 Buffett landed in the Okanagan, a place he thought could help him “regain personal balance.”
“As I fell in love with the area, my passion for people and vision for a healthier community led me to volunteer in school classrooms and at local social agencies, teaching cooking skills to those who needed it most,” he explains.
From that work, a non-profit organization called the Start Fresh Project Society eventually emerged.
Buffett began developing programming and securing spots throughout Kelowna to teach culinary arts and farming education to community members in need of employable skills.
That charity work lead Buffett to open a for-profit social enterprise called the Start Fresh Kitchen.
The cooking school and catering company creates awareness and provides support directly to the Start Fresh Project’s programs.
Th Kitchen opened in June of last year, and during this very same month, the Start Fresh Project began the first year-long certification courses through the non-profit.
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