A Face of Brassica
Sometimes a person we love, through no fault of his own, can’t see past the end of his nose. –Mary Poppins
To the leadership of Organic Trails:
My name is Aaron Cochran. I am a team member at Brassica. I don’t work full-time. I have 3 other jobs. I don’t need to work there. But I rejoined the team at the drop of a hat upon being called by Brian Pearsall after COVID. He called and I was there the next day. I worked from home before and after that shift. I have worked construction before other shifts. I rejoined so because I love what this company stands for. And I love the people that make up this company.
Yesterday I was told (I can’t remember if it was by a guest or internally):
“You’re doing a great job being the face of Brassica.”
These words will stick with me as long-time memories from this week. They will sit alongside the memory of sprinting down Broad Street away from tear gas followed shortly by the “pop pop pop” of rubber or wooden pellets at 8PM on Sunday night as the church bells tolled. These words made me take a step back and journal 3 full pages of how I feel about the company this morning. These words made me drop everything to assist a friend at 8A who was slaving away on a bountiful breakfast for courageous teammates. Those words made me talk for an hour to a partner who listened intently. Those words led to this now-extensive email after that conversation because those words are so important right now. And I forgot to mention them during that hour.
If you — our leaders — aren’t comfortable putting your face on the restaurant in times of uncertainty and crisis, the burden falls on us. During this time, we’ve all had to step up on your behalf to represent YOUR image and reputation and values in response to COVID-19 and police brutality. It has tested the best of us emotionally and physically and spiritually.
You Aren’t Seeing Us
But the you aren’t even on the ground in our community understanding the cries from downtown and in front of our doors right now. Darren, I get that the cops defended your school from shooters. That’s great! I am so thankful for our police that keep us safe as we walk to our cars parked blocks away after closing the restaurants. There is a legitimate need for the protection of our Northstar/Brassica family. In addition to the police protection you have brought, we, as the faces of Northstar/Brassica, also give each other rides home, walk together to our cars, and other measures to keep each other safe during these times, acting on our own initiative to look out for one another.
But this week, the cops were the shooters in Columbus. Members of our Northstar/Brassica family were pepper sprayed in the midday sun.
THE FACES OF NORTHSTAR AND BRASSICA WERE PEPPER SPRAYED IN THE MIDDAY SUN.
As I have said, I watched in horror as gas poured through the streets of my downtown towards me. Their wooden bullets have drawn blood from our community as we fled. WHERE ARE YOU all, being the hands and feet and voice of this company to call out that the FACES OF OUR COMPANY shed chemical tears in addition to their tears of mourning??? Where is your response when we are walking in our city and getting pelleted and gassed? Where are you metaphorically walking us to our car at night looking out for us?
We are the Faces
We talk to guests day in and day our about what’s going on Downtown. We talk to guests about why the windows are boarded up and whether there’s broken glass behind those boards. We celebrate the artistic creativity of the Short North community during this time. We stand as crowds march by our doorstep. We serve those among the crowds who choose to make our restaurant a stop along their route to refuel their feet and voices.
We also serve those who say “It’s a shame you are required to wear those masks and we can’t see your face.” “It’s so stupid that we can’t walk through the line.” “You know your mask isn’t actually doing anything.” (While this guest doesn’t even have a mask for our protection.) We serve those who say hurtful things about our race or sexuality or gender. We serve and console those who express fear of our peaceful Downtown. We do our best to inform their misinformation so they will return and dine with us again during this time. We serve DoorDash delivery drivers with kindness who are treated poorly by other restaurants and possibly some of our guests. We are the face of Northstar/Brassica.
Today’s Walkout
Today, I helped serve breakfast with a former teammate to a team who chose to be the face of this company by walking away from this company. I talked to a wonderful teammate that has worked there only 2 weeks and chose to walk out today. No one chose to walk out because they’re lazy or don’t need work. None of them walked out even knowing of the warm greeting and breakfast that would welcome them. Each walked out because they signed up to be a part of a company of community leaders. They walked out because they are a community of leaders who will not have their face used to represent deafeningly silent owners.
Today, as we ate breakfast and recounted what happened this morning, I saw the faces of Northstar. It felt like the company I had been missing these past 2 months. It felt like Labor Day Picnic in that house over breakfast: celebrating the great people in this company and the difference they are making. We celebrated our values and the lives of those in our community. We celebrated coming together as a community to uplift each other. We celebrated reclaiming our faces to match our values. That is the company I want to be a part of: one that celebrates and amplifies rather than takes advantage of our voices so that you, our leaders, don’t have to make a statement or show your face or even walk Downtown into our community.
I hope you recognize the faces of this company who have stayed with this company through insane hours and laying off friends and boarding up windows. I hope you start openly celebrating them like we did today. I hope you take some time to look around and say “Our teammates makes us proud. Our teammates are resilient against all odds. Our teammates have amazing lives and perspectives that I never would have dreamed of. We want to listen to and amplify our teammates who serve as the voice and face and hands and feet of our company. And we want to start right now.”
Start Using Your Face
A former employee dropped everything and stayed up all night on a moment’s notice to support and love the people of this company in leaps and bounds beyond anything I’ve seen from your leadership. They stayed up all night to prepare a space for those who felt unheard. They recognized each face of that group and heard and celebrated their voice. I just brought the coffee and orange juice. They are the face of Northstar/Brassica I want us to be known for. And that is how I want to see us listen to and serve our community.
I cannot allow my face to stand in place of your anonymity. You ARE community leaders. Your silence is deafeningly loud in our community. Your lack of action is violent and hurtful. I do not want work anywhere where community leaders don’t lead or engage.
Stop using our faces. Start defending them. Humble yourself and own up to your decision-making on the police discount (with fire and EMT attached for good measure although used much less frequently). At least jump on the bandwagon (You’re way too late to make a bold statement. The rest of the neighborhood already did that.) on the issue of police brutality among our peaceful protesters including our family. Hold our police friends accountable as you would want them to do to anyone else that was harming the face (or facade) of Northstar or Brassica.
