Our Executive Director Jen Faigel shares her thoughts on our members who are leaving the CWK nest

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Quicksilver- Susan and Lauren Fain joined the CWK community in 2018 with a recipe and a dream of honoring their late Mom’s legacy with her unique savory rugelach. Their time at CWK has been a master class in patience, trial and error, and perseverance. They first launched with a direct-to-consumer frozen product at farmers’ markets before pivoting to wholesale. They eventually took on a huge order for Disney, but quickly found that the sharks managing the account weren’t as warm and friendly as the Mouse!  After surviving a global pandemic, and many other twists and turns, they’ve decided it’s time to close the business and move on-  We wish them lots of success with whatever comes next. 

Family Affair-  Jermaine Tulloch (“JT”) and his Mom joined the CWK community in 2022 with the plan to continue the legacy of the beloved family restaurant they closed during the COVID pandemic.   Since joining CWK, they have taken on a delectable array of catering events, featuring every imaginable flavor of chicken and waffles; some of the best coconut shrimp ever; and a sushi chicken wing that many of us still have dreams about.  JT and team participated in many CWK programs and events, including feeding Boston Public School kids during school vacation through a grant from Liberty Mutual; cohosting an amazing tasting dinner featuring multiple CWK members for the Rockefeller Foundation; and catering for the new President of Roxbury Community College’s inauguration. Throughout their CWK tenure, JT and team have been kind, generous, active community members and a strong voice and advocate in supporting jobs and other opportunities for Boston youth.  We are so grateful for their warmth and friendship and look forward to the day when JT has more time in his absurdly busy schedule and (we hope) comes back to CWK with Family Affair 2.0.  

Fresh Zen-  Ruby Chen joined CWK in 2016 with a trove of treasured recipes from the Chinese restaurants her parents owned and she worked in as a kid. Despite nearly setting the kitchen on fire by trying to heat frying oil to 700 degrees, Ruby worked through the process to scale her recipes in the shared kitchens and transition production to our co-manufacturing operation. Along the way, she was able to get products on shelves in Whole Foods, TJ Maxx and numerous other retail accounts as well as sell her chili garlic sauce in bulk to local caterers, and do cooking demos.   With changing market and life conditions, Ruby is taking a pause and looking at options to sell the company. Fingers (and toes) crossed!