Help Russell Street Grow!
We’re in the process of building a soup manufacturing facility. The new equipment puts us in the position to quadruple the amount of soup we can package. The project helps build our business and increase employment.
Leader
Jason Murphy
Location
2465 Russell Street Detroit, MI 48207
About the project
Our project is to acquire a JDA Piston Filling System for our wholesale soup company. We currently sell to 70 Detroit area locations and we’re now being approached by large institutions. Our new equipment allows us to meet the demand for our product.
The Steps
1 - Acquire building for soup facility - done
2 - Get architect plans approved by city of Detroit
3 - Build out facility
4 - Put new equipment to use
Why we‘re doing it
Our restaurant seeks to engage with our community in as many ways possible. To date, we’ve raised $110,00 for Gleaners Community Food Bank, taught cooking classes to those with food insecurities through the Cooking Matters program, lobbied Congress to raise the national minimum wage, and created a staff that matches the demographic of Detroit. As a restaurant, we are the number one purchaser of locally grown organic produce in Detroit. We pay our staff a universal living wage, offer health insurance coverage, and offer a retirement program.
We started selling our wholesale soup as a way to both diversify our product and increase capital that we in turn reinvest in our staff and our community. We’ve grown to the point that need a commercial manufacturing facility to produce our soup. When our facility is open we can create real employment opportunities for people within the city of Detroit. Our new facility will also double as a training facility for local residents, giving Detroit residents the necessary tools to build their professional careers.
Our soup is vegan, soy free, gluten free, no additives, no preservatives, and low sodium. It's a clean profile product. We are being approached by large out of state and in state retailers, food banks, hospitals, universities, and public school systems seeking a healthy clean profile soup product for their organizations. This project helps us get our product into the mouths of people who truly need it. In addition, the project allows us to create more more jobs and continue to pay more staff members a universal living wage.