In late August of this year we found out we were a recipient of a $10,000 Aspirations Grant from Les Dames d’Escoffier: San Antonio Chapter. This award is something I will remember for the rest of my life. It represents the first acknowledgement of our product as a culinary innovation by a gastronomic authority. As someone with no formal training or background in the culinary industry, this award was a huge honor.
Our bone broth is handcrafted not just to be consumed, but to be enjoyed. In fact our mission from Day One has been to repair what we see as a deeply broken and dysfunctional relationship between good tasting food and food that is “good for you.” From our inception people have understood that our bone broth was healthy, and what we want them to also understand is quality ingredients, expertly grown, artfully used, meticulously preserved without the use of chemicals make it delicious.
Les Dames d’Escoffier is a society of professional women involved in food, wine and hospitality, promoting the interests of the members and those who share the objective of understanding, appreciation, and knowledge of food, wine and the arts of the table. Les Dames represents a worldwide philanthropic society of professional women leaders in the fields of food, fine beverage and hospitality. The invitation-only membership, composed of 36 individual chapters across the United States, Canada the United Kingdom and Mexico, is highly diversified and reflects the multifaceted fields of contemporary gastronomy and hospitality.
After hearing about our arduous 36 hour process and our refusal to take any shortcuts, Les Dames awarded us this grant for a specific purpose: to buy the necessary equipment to sustainably scale the volume of bone broth we are able to produce without short-cutting the time. Les Dames purchased two much needed pieces of equipment for us. We could not be more thankful for the timing of this equipment as we entered our busy season.
Les Dames requires every recipient of the Aspirations Grant to do a community give back with a portion of their funds. For us the decision was made months ago: a documentary on the Modern Farmer. The goal of the documentary is twofold, firstly to educate the public and to honor the farmers who make our product possible. We have an amazing team who has already begun the process of filming and included a portion of it for you to see below :)
In addition to the equipment Les Dames provided , they also extended their expertise and community to us. From the scaling and distribution of our product to the writing of our cookbook, Les Dames has committed to connecting us to the people and resources we need to grow our business to the next level. We formally received this award on September 21st, 2016 and look forward to sharing these pictures with our amazing customers without whom none of this would be possible. It is an honor to give you something delicious, something to nourish!
Broth on,
Alysa Seeland
Founder
