Most
times, a brownie is just a brownie. But the Do-Goodie Brownie from Greyston Bakery, based in Yonkers, N.Y., is a square of sweetness that its producers are using to do a world of good.
''The idea is that the community can lift itself up with support from the larger community,'' says Julius Walls, president and CEO of Greyston Bakery. ``We offer a product that can be produced here in the community. It's an equal exchange of value.''
With value comes variety: Chocolate fudge, walnut fudge, espresso bean and blondie, available at Whole Foods in South Florida and Publix's Greenwise stores in Boca Raton and Palm Beach.
But there's more than baking going on at Greyston. It's laying a foundation for people who have had troubled lives. ''Some might refer to them as unemployable,'' says Walls, 46. ``We say they have obstacles to employment: low skill set, low education level, formerly incarcerated, former substance abuse.''
But Greyston provides jobs through an open hiring process. ''We give a job to the first person to apply for a job, regardless of any past history,'' Walls says.
``We decided to give people a chance to succeed. A single mom of two young boys became our lead production supervisor. A gentleman who had been incarcerated is an equipment maintenance mechanic.''
Doing well by doing good has been Greyston's mission since the bakery was founded in 1982 to be the economic engine of the Zen Community of New York. As stated in the original 1986 Greyston Bakery Cookbook, by founders Helen Glassman and Susan Postal, ``We wanted to continue the Zen tradition of mindfulness, hard work and service.''
Then, as now, the bakery stands on its reputation for selling stellar desserts to the scores of high-end restaurants in the New York area. In addition, Walls say, Greyston is the exclusive producer of the brownies that go into Ben & Jerry's ice cream: ``Twenty pounds of brownies a day.''
Do-Goodie Brownie is the bakery's first large-scale retail product. Its profits go to the Greyston Foundation, which provides housing, childcare, health care and other services to low-income families around bakery headquarters.
''This is Greyston's spiritual grounding,'' he says. `` The management team made a conscious decision that it wanted to impact the community.''
Nancy Ancrum writes biweekly about the culinary legacy of the African diaspora.
