DTCO’s mission takes our desire to “inspire connection throughout our hometown and beyond” to an entirely new level . . . a level still being determined.
We become increasingly aware of our abundance and —simultaneously— of those who cannot claim the same abundance. Our growing compulsion is to be part of bringing wholeness and provision to every person in our city, particularly those less accustomed to it.
We cannot know exactly how our impact will take shape, but we believe ourselves to be in the middle phase of a three-phase journey.
In phase one, we became well-established as a company. Thank you with all our hearts, Durham (and beyond), for your eager loyalty! Read more about our sweet story here.
Phase TwoIn phase two, we aim to increase our capacity to meet currently impossible demand by bringing my husband and strongest support—David Burnett—onto the DTCO team. David’s spirit and expertise will empower much needed growth at every level of our business while inevitably increasing the laughter output for all. (Side note: employee joy is a secondary mission at DTCO!) We anticipate that during this phase we will continue operating creatively out of our home-certified kitchen, maximizing output, streamlining processes, getting better-versus-bigger.
Our Durham love in this stage will continue as participation with significantly impactful organizations like Durham Cares, Step Up Durham, and City of Medicine Corps of Medical Volunteers. We will also ensure that our product prices accurately reflect our costs so that we can build a foundation for stage three.
Our dream for the final phase, which will never end, I presume, makes my heart a little giddy and frankly scares me to death. What if we could duplicate, triplicate, quadruplicate our happy home kitchen, one or two kitchens at a time in one big facility?
What if two of those kitchens were “money kitchens” and two moved at a pace apart, operated by hearts and hands who are “less employable” for any number of reasons? What if in the center of this kitchen quadrangle there were couches and tables with lamps and all manner of welcome? What if our goal was solidarity and not wealth building at all? What if each month’s profit boomeranged back to those kitchens and hosted spaghetti dinners or pancake breakfasts? Where in the world could we pull this off? What type of building on what type of street?
And then my husband, daughters and sons, and son-in-law start talking about their own unique contributions like basic finance, carpentry, or mechanic classes, a coffee bar, a community garden . . . Their curiosity and support means the world to me.
So here we are. This is the direction of our mission. For the health of us all, we stay in the present moment, hearts flung open to the Spirit and one another, offering our yeses one at a time.
Rebecca Burnett & Family