After joining DC Central Kitchen in 2004, Mike drew on his experiences as an entrepreneur in the restaurant business to expand the Kitchen’s social enterprise program from less than $500,000 to over $7 million in 2014. The Kitchen’s social enterprise portfolio includes full-service catering, contract meals, locally-sourced, scratched-cooked school meals and a wholesale program that delivers fresh produce and healthy snacks to corner stores in Washington, DC’s food deserts. Since 2010, DC Central Kitchen has generated over $35 million through social enterprise which now accounts for approximately 63% of its total operating budget.  As a result of this growth, the Kitchen now employs over 150 people, including 60 graduates of the Kitchen’s Culinary Job Training Program which trains formerly incarcerated, addicted, homeless or chronically unemployed individuals.  Since the 2008 recession, the Kitchen’s graduates have earned over $8.5 million in wages and have less than 2% recidivism.