Sauce Milwaukee Startup!

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Good day friends of Gofundme! 

Today we reach out to you in the hopes of receiving funding to jumpstart our new organization, Sauce Milwaukee, which will deliver meals and groceries to underserved communities, especially food deserts, in and around the city of Milwaukee at no cost. This organization’s purpose is to provide healthful sustenance to those who have the least access. For this mission to begin, we are reaching out for your help in providing the financial means necessary to make this possible.

Sauce Milwaukee will be a mobile resource for healthy and accessible prepared foods, as well as produce. Our mission is to provide nutritious foods at no cost to people in the Milwaukee area who face the most difficulty in finding wholesome sustenance. The travelling piece of this concept exists to provide convenience and ease of access to the families and individuals who live in neighborhoods affected by food and nutrition scarcity. We will travel on cargo bikes to these areas, and deliver both prepared meals and groceries, as supplies are available. We will deliver food by bike to keep environmental impact minimal.

This proposal will detail what we need funding for, why our mission matters, and how this project can positively affect the city of Milwaukee.

Providing both fresh and cooked plant foods to these areas could drastically change their health, as well as stress levels, for the better. The zip codes in Milwaukee that are in “food deserts” (now called areas of nutrition scarcity) are also typically redlined communities, highly incarcerated communities, and are the most impoverished. To aid individuals and families who find distress in the search for food, and the means to move and prepare it, is our primary goal. Sauce Milwaukee is capable of providing these services at no cost to the consumers. We hope to run this operation for free, at no charge to the public.

As we strive to become a fundamental resource in feeding people, we will consider the ways that this type of mission could become possible. We hope to source the stock of food that we cook by taking food based donations and starting a city or community garden space. We hope to only purchase food from stores as a last resort. All of the food products that we offer will be plant-based, and have alternative and allergen-friendly options. This will largely minimize the certifications that we would need to pursue in order to function as a mobile food service.

Our program would be executed through the following process. We would prepare a plant based meal in a rented commercial kitchen. This would be followed by the packaging of the prepared foods in reusable containers, and then the packing of those containers onto the trailers of one or more cargo bikes. Finally, we would bike the foods to specified locations in local neighborhoods that experience food scarcity, and offer these meals for free. We hope to start this process by preparing and delivering food one or two days a week. If we find this project to be received well, we would love to work up to three, and even five or seven days at some point. We find that people feel much less stressed when they are able to eat, especially healthy and delicious foods, seven days of the week.

Our diet affects so much of the way that we see the world. How our body feels can fundamentally change our experiences and how we interact with our environment. We hope to bring awareness to how wholesome meals can positively affect us, while also removing the stress of attempting to attain resources that are fundamentally out of reach, despite how much people may need them.

There are currently no programs in effect to address this issue directly. Though there are food banks, food stamps, and many organizations who give access to free food - none are consistently entering the communities to provide hot, plant-based meals. 

Our expertise with cooking plant-based foods, and understanding nutritional needs, allows us the opportunity to provide proper sustenance to those who need it most. With formal restaurant experience, including working as a chef in a local plant-based restaurant, working as head chef on a farm operation serving 50+ people lunch and dinner every day, and 14+ years of food service experience; we are absolutely equipped to provide simplistic, nutritional, and satisfying meals to people within our city.

According to the CDC, the most prominent reason for death in the state of Wisconsin is heart disease. This is a direct result of our food and diet choices, but when healthier choices are unavailable, it’s unsurprising that heart disease and cholesterol-related deaths continue. We hope to remove a few steps in the process of starting to eat healthier, as this transition can be very intense for most people. In the United States, we are given little education about how our diet and lifestyle affect our quality of life. While always offering free information about healthy food choices, we feel that the most effective way to influence people in the city positively would be to directly provide them with the missing resource: fresh and plant-based foods. Simultaneously, we hope to offer information about other food resources in the city, as well as nutritional information about the food we serve. 

The cost of this project would begin with a few primary resources. To begin, we must find a steady food source. Though donations will be very relevant in this process, it is projected that we would need to purchase food sometimes. We are hoping to partner with Outpost Natural Foods as well as Aldi to gain “lost” produce, which would aid us in our ability to provide foods for free. The need for access to a commercial kitchen is pressing, especially as our organization grows. There are many fees associated with certifications when attempting to provide food outdoors in the community. 

The list below details our expenses, in order from most to least relevant.

Food Dealer License

$300 application

$250 certification

Repeating: Certification - Annually

Food Peddler Supplemental License

$275

Repeating: Annually

Commercial Kitchen Rental (THIS IS OUR MOST PRESSING EXPENSE)

$300 deposit

$450 monthly rent

Repeating: Rent - Monthly

Tricycle with Food Cart

$3000

Two Bike Carriages 

$1000

Branding/Presentation

$600

Initial (Monthly/Bimonthly) Food Supply

$300

Containers for Food

$170

Sanitation Supplies

$80

Literature for Patrons

$120

Hitch for Volunteer Bikes

$100 ($25/each)

This total is $6845.

The city of Milwaukee is stationed right next to one of the worlds largest freshwater resources, is covered with fertile soil, forests, bluffs, and lakes; and is unfortunately one of the most racially segregated cities in the United States. This segregation keeps resources separated, and transportation to healthier resources is also scarce in the affected zip codes. These details are what bring the pursuit of running Sauce into our hearts and hopefully onto our streets.

We hope to be able to be funded by Milwaukee residents and friends of the cause that is good health, happy people, and wholesome food; so that we may provide a vital service to the citizens of Milwaukee. 

Thank you SO MUCH for your time, for your consideration, and for being an excellent person.

We love you, see you on the streets!

Gianni Vaccaro of Sauce Milwaukee Inc.