Joe DeLoss: where social consciousness and entrepreneurship meet

Give people sandwiches, and you'll feed them for a day.

Give people jobs making, selling and delivering delicious, savory sandwiches (nicely packaged with potato chips, fruit and a cookie), and you'll soon have more-employable Ohioans.

In Joe DeLoss's case, that compassionate business strategy, is flourishing in Columbus. Proof? BusinessWeek recently named him one of the top five of "America's Best Young Entrepreneurs."

Besides BusinessWeek, DeLoss has been getting attention from others. Columbus Monthly profiled him in an article headlined "Single in the city" (he drinks tea, owns a dog, likes hiking and renovated a 1963 Airstream Overlander trailer into an "off-the-grid condo"). A Capital University publication highlighted his past experiences as a volunteer, his zeal for entrepreneurism, and his goal of making his business, Freshbox Catering, "the McDonald's of social enterprise."

DeLoss's Freshbox is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lutheran Social Services of Central Ohio. Many of Freshbox's employees are homeless and eager to earn a steady salary so they can get back on their feet.

LSSCO had been running a Southern Ohio lawn care service that employed residents of housing projects when it hired DeLoss -- who'd briefly worked as an investment banking analyst -- as director of social enterprise two years ago. Not long afterward, it was time for a similar effort in the Columbus area.

"Our goal was broad -- to launch an enterprise in an industry where meaningful training could turn into meaningful jobs with higher wages," he says. He sought advice from many sources, including some of his former teachers at Capital University in Columbus, where he had studied business management and communication.

In the spring of 2009 he pitched the idea of a low-overhead catering company in collaboration with another LSSCO subsidiary, Faith Mission shelters. Freshbox Catering launched in the fall that year with about $40,000 seed money. This year's sales estimate: $135,000.

Now, "Freshbox employees are all paid and work in a competitive environment that builds skills in and out of the kitchen," says DeLoss, who refers to himself as Freshbox's chief sandwich officer, or CSO. "There are three progressive levels of employment and compensation lasting four to six months depending on an employee's trajectory and tenacity. We like to think that Freshbox provides limitless support for individuals with limitless capacity. We currently have a team of six people with two additional employees on the way. Three (going on five) employees have come to Freshbox from Faith Mission Homeless Shelters� We currently have an employee transitioning into a Crew Leader position, something of which we're very proud."

Customers are mostly in downtown Columbus and the I-270 outerbelt. Many are corporate entities such as law firms, financial service companies and banks.

"Additionally, many mission-aligned nonprofits use our service," DeLoss says. "Two examples are the Community Shelter Board and The Columbus Foundation. Some customers regularly order six meals, some order 600, but no matter the customer, all receive a wonderful lunch and a unique sense of satisfaction."

Brenda Barnett handles hospitality needs at Columbus law firm Bailey Cavalieri. She learned about Freshbox from one of the firm's attorneys, who's active on a Lutheran Social Services committee. After a meeting with DeLoss and a giving him a tryout catering job, she became convinced of Freshbox's quality and now is a repeat customer.

"He has a lot of competition," Barnett says. "There are a lot of restaurants, cafes, delis and so on around here that he has to compete with." But the quality of the food and service -- and opportunity to support a meaningful cause -- put him at the top of the list.

"We've always been satisfied," she says.

DeLoss says he loves his job because it's an opportunity to be entrepreneurial and do something valuable to the community at the same time.

"Aligning the ferociousness of small business and social change is exhilarating."

His goal is for Freshbox to become a "scalable social franchise."

"At Freshbox, we are working on a formula that sustainably tackles poverty. It is my hope that the formula will be replicable in other communities and other agencies similar to LSSCO."

What could for-profit business owners/managers learn from Freshbox?

"I'd hope they'd affirm that value for your customer can equate to value for the community as well. Consumers love to feel good about their purchases, if quality and price can be met, a community impact can be a deal maker. Though our mission generally gets our foot in the door, our product quality keeps customers coming back."