At first glance, Comal Heritage Food Incubator seems like a pretty average Denver lunch spot.
Dig a little deeper you’ll find that’s it’s also a place dedicated to investing in entrepreneurship and continued learning.
Comal opened in 2016 in partnership with Focus Points Family Resource Center, a nonprofit that serves the Globeville and Elyria-Swansea neighborhoods.
Refugees and aspiring chefs in the area are taught the culinary and business skills necessary to operate a restaurant, while pocketing about 60 percent of the profits from lunch and catering sales. The remaining 40 percent goes towards the restaurant’s educational mission as well as the day to day costs.
The menu changes daily and features a rotation of chefs cooking up a variety of different cuisines, each form their respective homelands.
On Thursday, customers had the choice between traditional Mexican cuisine or traditional Ethiopian cuisine.
Latin-inspired dishes and Syrian cuisine also make regular appearances on the rotating menu.
Everything is prepared fresh, and the restaurant uses plenty of greens and vegetables from the garden growing right outside.
Comal Heritage Food Incubator is open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. To learn more, visit their Facebook page.
