It Takes a Global Village
In seven years, a small business in White River Junction has transformed itself from a single restaurant to a company that offers its African cuisine in more than 200 stores throughout New England. Soon, it may be offered throughout the country.
Global Village Foods, the SBA’s 2022 Vermont Minority-Owned Business of the Year, makes allergy-friendly food with bold African flavor, carefully crafted with clean ingredients in Vermont.
“We grew from a full-service restaurant, to farmers’ markets, to catering and concessions,” explained Wangene Hall, Global Village’s director of marketing, who shared in the award with her parents, Mel and Damaris Hall. “Then we took these recipes and turned them into a line of packaged foods, handheld snacks and bulk entrées. It is comfort food with global flavor.”
The Halls are proud to boast that Global Village Foods is a Black-owned business that gives back to its local and global community. Damaris, a trained chef, is from Africa; Mel is from Memphis. The two met in Kenya and moved to Vermont. Not long after Wangene came along, her parents discovered she had allergies. This is why their food and facility are allergy-friendly.
In 2021 Global Village Foods moved from its location in Windsor to a 7,000-square-foot facility in Quechee that is 100% allergen-free of dairy, eggs, peanuts, fish and sesame. There, the company makes a variety of frozen meals inspired from North, East and West African dishes, Kenyan-styled samosas, falafel and stews.
The family is also involved in many charitable endeavors. Global Village donates to Everyone Eats, which provides nutritious meals to Vermonters in need of food assistance, and contributes financial support to clean-water initiatives throughout Kenya.
The Halls take special pride in being named best minority-owned business in Vermont.
“It is a great honor, and we are appreciative of the consideration,” Mel said. “With all of the upheavals since 2020, it is too easy to get caught up in the day-to-day challenges and lose sight of progress made. The Small Business Administration, through the EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loan) and PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) programs, were instrumental in our ability to rebound and reset, and we fully expect to utilize other programs in the future. That said, there is a tendency to see agencies like SBA as a faceless entity on the other side of a portal,” Mel said.
In addition to SBA assistance, the Halls have taken advantage of many of the free resources available to small businesses throughout Vermont, including SCORE and the Vermont Small Business Development Center.
“This award gives us a better sense of the people of the local and regional SBA, and thus connects the dots of the relationships underlying the lending and technical support programs with our local financial and community development institutions," Mel said. “This is what community is and feels like. Real people, our small-business colleagues and neighbors in Vermont, having their stories recognized and awarded, as well as being engaged and supported by thoughtful and coordinated policy efforts at the national level, supporting local efforts to create viable and sustainable enterprises that improve livelihoods in places we call home. We are absolutely thrilled to be recognized as a part of this community”
As for the future, Global Village Foods is currently collaborating with a national distributor to take its cuisine countrywide. A grateful nation awaits.