Emma’s Torch, on Smith Street, is much more than just a cafe — though some people don’t realize it.
“It’s actually really funny,” says Kira O’Brien. “There are people that come in for years, and walk past this mission statement [painted on the window], and don’t know that this is our mission. I’m like, great — that means you’re coming because you think the food is delicious, which is what I want.”
The food is, in fact, delicious, but the mission should not be overlooked. Emma’s Torch, where O’Brien is Chief Impact Officer, is a nonprofit that helps refugees, asylees and victims of human trafficking launch careers in the food industry through culinary training.
Right now at the Smith Street location, 13 students hailing from 12 different countries — Bangladesh, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Tajikistan and Venezuela — are honing their skills as part of a full-time, paid apprenticeship program. They make up student cohort no. 68 in the history of Emma’s Torch, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month.
The students start by spending four to five weeks in a classroom, before moving into the cafe’s kitchen for six-plus weeks of on-the-job training. O’Brien says that every order placed at the cafe represents a crucial learning opportunity.
“Our students need that practice to be able to thrive in the work world,” she says. “So when people come and order food, they are helping our students get, and keep, really good jobs. And I don’t think people realize how important that is.”
Emma’s Torch covers about 30 percent of its budget with revenue from its cafes and catering business, with the rest mostly coming from donors and foundations. But O’Brien says the cafe dollars carry extra value in the form of students’ working experience.
“If I could pick between somebody donating 10 bucks, or using 10 bucks to buy a sandwich, I would take the sandwich every time,” O’Brien says.
The organization also connects students with employment partners who can offer them full-time jobs with decent wages after they graduate. One such partner is Light Switch, the new cafe and bar on Court Street, which hired two Emma’s Torch graduates for their opening.
“They’ve become an essential part of our team, and we couldn’t be happier with how they are doing,” says Light Switch’s Mark Thomas.
Danny Meyer, the famed restaurateur behind Shake Shack and Union Square Hospitality Group, has been Emma’s Torch’s foremost employment partner — O’Brien estimates that about a third of Emma’s Torch graduates go on to work for Meyer’s organization. Meyer will be honored at Emma’s Torch’s 10th anniversary gala on October 26.
Emma’s Torch began as a pop-up in Red Hook before moving into the location at the corner of Smith and Carroll eight years ago, and it recently added locations in Inwood and Silver Springs, MD. Smith Street started as a nighttime restaurant before switching to a daytime cafe coming out of the Covid pandemic.
“Dinner service did not come back in the same way,” O’Brien says. “[Switching to daytime] allowed us to double the amount of hours that we are open, and double the amount of students that we were having.”
Senior Director of Culinary Education Alex Harris
Emma’s Torch takes its name from Emma Lazarus, the poet and refugee advocate whose 1883 sonnet “The New Colossus” is partly inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. Refugee admissions to the United States have plummeted toward record lows in the second Trump Administration, but O’Brien says Emma’s Torch’s mission will not be interrupted.
“I think we’ve had 260,000 asylum seekers enter New York since 2024,” she says. “So while, yes, we are going to see less people coming into the country, they are already here, right? I have no concern that we cannot fill our program.”
She noted that Emma’s Torch already worked through the severe decline in immigration during the pandemic. In fact, the organization generally prefers to bring in students who aren’t brand-new arrivals to the U.S.
“First of all, we’ve hired them,” she says. “And so for you to be able to commit to a full-time job, both here and after, if you don’t have a certain level of stability in your life before that, then we’re setting you up to fail.”
With the new locations in Inwood and Maryland, Emma’s Torch’s operations are “effectively about triple the size” they were two years ago, O’Brien says. And this month, the Smith Street location is expanding service of its brunch menu, which was formerly only available on weekends, to be available every day.
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AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD:
Smor Bakery opens at Court and President: The bakery had a long line on its first morning on October 1st (some likely lured by the promise of a free tote bag for the first 25 customers). The Carroll Gardens location is the bakery’s fourth in NYC, offering “good Nordic-inspired food.” It seems the cardamom buns are the buzzy item.
Mazzone Pumpkin Fest: Design your own pumpkin and enjoy music, food and raffles, benefitting The Children’s Miracle Network, at Mazzone Hardware (470 Court Street) from 10am-3pm on Saturday 10/3.
Cool map identifying NYC trees: Labeling 1.8 million tree crowns, the map shows that in Carroll Gardens, many blocks are dominated by London planes, others by oaks, while one special block is lined with ginkgos.
Does your house go all-out for Halloween? Extra-spooky decorations? Primo candy? Please reply to this email (or forward to Halloween-loving neighbors) to be included in the CGT’s neighborhood trick-or-treat guide 🎃
— Travis Hunter
Nobel prizes to everyone associated with Emma's torch. Awesome. Better than cardamom buns, even.