Edibles Rex grows staff, scores Mission Main St Grant

Edibles Rex is both hiring and locking down new money, including six figures from a Mission Main Street Grant.

The 21-year-old firm is based in the Warren-Connor neighborhood on Detroit’s east side. It specializes in catering and wholesale food preparation service. Think making the meals that are used in school cafeterias.

Edibles Rex services a number of large corporations and schools. The company has watched its revenue jump 5 percent over the last year as the demand for federally subsidized school meals has spiked. It also worked on a summer meals program last year to bring more healthy food for children in economically challenged neighborhoods by service free lunches at recreation centers, churches and parks.

"We served probably 3,500 meals a day this summer," says Tammy Tedesco, president & CEO of Edibles Rex.

That growth has allowed Edibles Rex to hire 10 people over the last year, expanding the firm's staff to 90 employees and the occasional summer intern. The new hires filled open positions for upper management, food preparation and school lunch servers.

Edibles Rex also scored a $250,000 grant from the Mission Main Street program this year. That money will go toward the renovation costs of a new building Edibles Rex acquired near Eastern Market. Edibles Rex expects to spend $2 million renovating the structure later this year. It has already raised about 75 percent of that number.

Source: Tammy Tedesco, president & CEO of Edibles Rex
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.