Spreading Holiday Cheer Through Holiday Meals
The winter holiday season is about giving and receiving. For Todt Hill Houses resident Jonathan Alexander, creating holiday meals for fellow NYCHA residents that you’d find at a five-star restaurant was both an opportunity for his catering company and a chance to do something special for his community.
Mr. Alexander is the owner of L’Boe Catering; “L’Boe” is short for “little bit of everything” as a nod to his multicultural food influences. He prepared a menu of honey herb roasted chicken thighs, confit garlic mashed potatoes, roasted vegetable medley, and raisin-infused carrot cake for dessert and delivered those 90 meals to residents of Todt Hill Houses, South Beach Houses, Glenwood Houses, Pink Houses, East NYC City Line Houses, and Tilden Houses on December 23.
Meals prepared by L’Boe Catering for NYCHA residents.
“It feels really good to be giving back to the same development that helped me get on my feet,” Mr. Alexander said. He was one of seven NYCHA food entrepreneurs hired to prepare and deliver holiday meals to residents experiencing gas outages.
The entrepreneurs are graduates of the Food Business Pathways program (FBP), a business accelerator program operated by NYCHA’s Office of Resident Economic Empowerment & Sustainability (REES), which provided free food business training to help NYCHA residents and Section 8 voucher holders reach their dreams of starting or growing their own businesses.
Funding for the meals was provided through the Growing NYCHA Food Entrepreneurs program from the City’s Taskforce on Racial Inclusion & Equity, which provides NYCHA residents who have graduated from Business Pathways programs with opportunities to provide NYCHA residents with culturally appropriate emergency meals while supporting their businesses.
After Mr. Alexander graduated from FBP in 2018, he started L’Boe soon after, and had his first catering gig in December 2018. He calls himself a one-man army and wants to establish himself as a well-known chef. He’s showcased his food skills at the Richmond County Fair in Staten Island and the Tappen Park African Culture Fest, as well as for clients throughout the city.
While the pandemic did affect his business (because he lost corporate clients), he’s re-envisioned his company to make more personal connections and has been networking with some of America’s top chefs: “It feels amazing that all these great things are falling into my lap. I’m very thankful things are coming my way. Seeing me give back and be successful also motivates others in my community. This little boy from the projects just grabbed an opportunity in Food Business Pathways, and now I’m getting called daily to cater private events. There’s a lot of potential to come out of the projects that’s not only basketball and rapping.”
The other resident business owners who provided meals are Cornel Robinson of Cornel’s Catering; Bernadette Alvelo-Miller of Bernadette’s Place; Niani Taylor of Munch Hours; Brandi Covington of Cooking with Corey; Sandra Matthis of Grace Kelli Cupcakes; and Cristiana Franco of Sabor Restaurant. Together, these entrepreneurs provided a total of 1,647 meals to residents experiencing gas outages at 38 developments.
Mr. Alexander was not the only one to do something special for NYCHA residents: NYCHA, resident associations, businesses and community organizations, and elected officials provided residents across the city with meals, groceries, toys, and holiday cheer for all.
