Empowering Communities Through Hospitality Training

In the early 2010s, I led the creation of a Social School Restaurant in Rio de Janeiro, designed to train 120 young people per year from underprivileged backgrounds for the city’s booming hospitality sector. This flagship initiative was developed in partnership with Casa do Menor, a Brazilian NGO founded in 1982 by Father Renato Chiera, dedicated to supporting vulnerable children, adolescents, and families in high-risk suburban areas.

Here's a short story about how it happened.

The idea was sparked when Father Renato, President of the NGO Casa do Menor and a long-standing partner of the Monaco Red Cross, approached us with what he described as a “crazy idea”: teaching young people to prepare boeuf bourguignon. What initially sounded whimsical quickly revealed its deeper purpose; in reality, the idea wasn't cooking a French dish, but creating a platform to train and employ vulnerable youth while serving their communities. Father Renato was looking for long-term, reliable partners to refine his idea and achieve this new goal.

At the time, Brazil, and Rio in particular, was preparing to host the Football World Cup and the Olympic Games, with a pressing demand for qualified hospitality professionals. Yet, talented young people from the outskirts of the city faced significant barriers to accessing professional training. Casa do Menor already had a strong track record, offering technical courses since 2006 to over 50,000 young people who went on to enter the job market. The Social School Restaurant was a natural extension of this offer.

Having lived over three years in Brazil, including a year working in a favela in Salvador da Bahia, I was able to lead this project with local teams. After conducting in-depth needs assessments through direct community engagement, interviews, and expert consultations, we spearheaded fundraising and partnership-building efforts. Key alliances were formed with the Cuomo Foundation — our principal donor — and Monaco’s hospitality school, both of whom became active and committed partners.

Managing this multi-year, €300,000+ project for the Monaco Red Cross, I coordinated with the Brazilian Red Cross, local authorities, and community stakeholders, ensuring alignment and continuous monitoring through operational missions and remote follow-up. One of the project’s greatest achievements was reaching financial self-sufficiency in just three years, a testament to the community’s ownership and engagement.

Today, the Social School Restaurant continues to deliver hands-on culinary and hospitality training, achieving high employment rates and creating lasting opportunities for young people, while contributing to the social and economic vitality of the area.

Following this success, I went on to serve as Vice-President of the French branch of Casa do Menor for a couple years, providing voluntary strategic support to the board and executive teams.