F or some, working at Brody Square might not exactly be a dream job.
But for alumnus Sam Boyce, the job is more than just punching in and out — it’s the stepping stone for a dream of bridging the gap between agriculture and business.
The East Lansing resident has a plan that spans past the stoves and ovens of a restaurant kitchen.
In the future, Boyce said he sees all of the employees in his own restaurant treated fairly and paid well.
“With my experience in the food industry, the workers, to me, are the most mistreated demographic of workers aside from farmers and people who produce food and grow food,” Boyce said. “My goal ... is to become a good enough chef to eventually open up my own restaurant that ties my farm into the restaurant.”
After taking a course at MSU and learning about subsidized crops, such as corn, wheat and soy, Boyce realized many lost land from it.
The course sparked his curiosity to learn about the profitability of growing other kinds of crops on his own farm to ensure that farmers will see the benefit of their labor in their wages and health.
He believes this will allow him to pay his workers higher wages.
Boyce also said he hopes to create a successful business model so that people can begin to replicate it and start producing higher quality food for consumers and producers and the Earth.
“The way that we (as a country) produce food is not healthy,” Boyce said. “It’s not good for the land and it’s not good for the people. We just need to change directions.”
Growing up, Boyce and his parents had a 2-acre garden where they grew about 90 crops in the growing season.
This exposed him to fresh, healthy food, which he said fostered his passion for cooking.
“For me, the biggest thing I have taken away from it so far is the scale of production,” said Boyce. “For me, most of my experience has been cooking in my on house, so two to ten people at the most.”
He added that the feedback from his supervisors makes the job more worthwhile.
“A lot of my experience before and in other food industry jobs is that when you work hard and get noticed, your employer tends to exploit that instead of trying to promote you,” Boyce said. “But (Brody Square has) been really good at that with helping me try to get a better job ... and it makes you feel good.”
