Tableseide Cares is the locally run 501(c)(3) non-profit that powers the first project of its kind here in the greater Sarasota Community. Miss Susie’s Newtown Kitchen along with our community partners and donors, will provide the dining community with a destination restaurant as well as a glimpse into the immersive training program.
VALUES:
Cultivate passion, confidence and knowledge within our trainees to create a solid foundation for their careers.
• Education
• Inclusivity
• Accountability
MISSION:
Provide support to communities that can benefit from a job training program with a focus on careers in hospitality. Revitalizing a local neighborhood restaurant for training and community gatherings benefits trainees and the surrounding community alike.
VISION:
Provide a job training program in the hospitality industry for individuals who may have encountered barriers in finding
employment.
Founder:
Steve Seidensticker
About Tableseide Cares:
Tableseide Cares, a not-for-profit organization, is the legacy of Steve Seidensticker, longtime Sarasota resident and philanthropist. The goal of Tableseide Cares is to improve Sarasota and surrounding communities by focusing on the social issues of those less fortunate through innovative community outreach programs. The resources of Tableseide Cares will fund programs designed to further its mission as well as to support other not-for-profit groups in the area that share our mission.
The first such project of Tableseide Cares, Miss Susie’s Newtown Kitchen, was Steve’s response to what he identified as a pressing need in the Newtown community as well as a problem in the restaurant industry in Sarasota. As employer and resident in Sarasota, Steve was concerned with the near absence of African Americans in the employee pool of the restaurants in the Tableseide Restaurant Group. Several efforts designed to recruit African Americans had fallen short. Interested in learning why, Steve consulted community members and conducted field research. A recurrent theme was the lack of African American-owned restaurants that could serve as training grounds for people to learn the business and acquire necessary expertise. At the same time, the labor market for Sarasota restaurants was very tight.
He believed that a thriving restaurant in Newtown could help address the shortage of skilled African American restaurant workers in the area and improve the economic health of Newtown itself. Encouraged by Newtown residents and community organizations, Steve canvassed the area for a promising site. The property at 1741 Martin Luther King Way, where Miss Susie had run her restaurant for over 20 years, seemed ideal. The location is in the heart of Newtown, convenient for its targeted customers, as well as near the soon-to-be-opened Sarasota Memorial Internal Medicine Practice and the expanding campus of the Ringling College of Art and Design. With proximity to the booming downtown area, the restaurant can be a destination that draws other members of the Sarasota community to Newtown to support economic growth.
Now that Steve has passed, his family is committed to carrying on his legacy of philanthropy in the community. Tableseide Cares will finish Steve’s goal of creating a unique project that will provide opportunities for the Newtown community. The successful completion of Miss Susie’s will test and improve the concept of such community-based investments. Profits from Miss Susie’s will be reinvested in such efforts.