The Bread Project
Food and Beverage ManufacturingCalifornia, United States11-50 Employees
The Bread Project is a food and beverage manufacturing organization based in Berkeley, California, focused on training individuals who face barriers to employment for careers in the culinary and food service sectors. It emphasizes helping low- or no-income residents acquire the skills needed to secure livable-wage jobs, with outcomes that include high graduation, job placement shortly after training, and job retention after employment onset. The program supports opportunities across restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores, cafeterias, catering firms, corporate food services, and healthcare facilities, while also preparing participants to pursue entrepreneurship or advanced training. In addition to its core training and placement work, the organization prepares thousands of meals annually for the homeless and food-insecure and offers mentorship to aspiring food entrepreneurs. Since its founding in 2000, the group has operated primarily in the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area, and its mission centers on advancing equitable access to employment in the food industry for immigrants, refugees, the formerly incarcerated, and others facing barriers to work.