Harlem Startup Brings Healthy Meals To Schools

Jamie Oliver is not the only one with plans to improve the school food system. Red Rabbit, a Harlem-based company founded by Rhys Powell, partners with local schools in New York City to provide students with made-from-scratch, healthy meals. This week, the Neighborhood Achievement Awards named them the Manhattan Small Business of the Year, NY Daily News reported.

Red Rabbit, which Powell created in 2005, originally sold food to parents. It was not as successful as he expected, so he decided to sell fresh, regionally sourced breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks to private and charter schools instead. Red Rabbit now provides food to over seventy schools, according to MikeBloomberg.com. The company estimates that they will make 20,000 meals for over a hundred schools this year, with $10 million in sales.

The company cooks the meals at their Harlem, Brooklyn, and northern New Jersey facilities, and Powell is continuing to expand thanks to a $750,000 loan he received from Partnership Fund for New York City. He aims to eventually deliver to schools in nearby states, such as New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C.