By Tanya Dennis

For Jamale Carlyle, what began as a way to cope with personal loss has grown into a thriving chicken wing business with locations in Tracy and Oakland’s Jack London Square.

Raised in Los Angeles, Carlyle remains a southern kid at heart, guided by the values and principles instilled in him growing up. In 2020, he lost his sister, and two months later, his mother passed away. The losses left him grieving half of his immediate family and searching for a way forward.

He turned to God, and to two favorite pastimes: grilling chicken wings and deep sea fishing. Friends who gathered in his backyard encouraged him to turn his chicken wings into a business.

Carlyle had built a successful corporate career before becoming an entrepreneur. An economics graduate of the University of California, Irvine, he earned a master’s degree in accounting from the University of Southern California and became a certified public accountant (CPA).

He spent more than 20 years in the power industry, including working for Edison International in Los Angeles and Boston. He later joined JP Energy Partners in Dallas, helping its team take the company public.

After moving to San Francisco in 2016, Carlyle spent 10 years with Pattern Energy, a wind energy company, where he served as vice president of Internal Audit and took on numerous corporate responsibilities.

But in 2025, grilling became more than a hobby. Carlyle began selling his wings at farmers’ markets, initially dedicating four hours every Saturday. Nervous about his first outing in Tracy, he wondered whether his friends had simply been encouraging. Instead, he sold out on opening day.

He later brought his business to Jack London Square’s Farmers Market, where he again sold out on his first day. As demand grew, he expanded into catering before opening his Tracy storefront in May 2026 and his Jack London Square location in July.

Social media helped fuel the momentum. In Tracy, enthusiastic reviews on the community’s Rants and Raves Facebook page brought customers through the door. His Jack London Square debut also gained traction online, generating approximately 100,000 views on social media on his on opening day.

Still processing the rapid growth, Carlyle describes the business as something that began in his backyard as a stress reliever and became an unexpected calling, and a way of giving back.

“Giving back” has led to a partnership with Mike Jenkins, owner of Oakland Strong, a nonprofit gym known for Olympic style weight lifting and developing national and international champions. After Jenkins visited Carlyle’s store with members of his team, Carlyle returned the visit, and the two began discussing ways to partner to support the community.

“I’m really big on charity. I believe in giving back to the community,” Carlyle said. “I knew before I opened my store, I’d be doing something like this, this is what God wants me to do.”

Their collaboration will introduce the “Oakland Strong Bowl,” featuring 10 dry-rub Cajun wings and a vegetable-rice bowl for $17.99, with $2 from each purchase donated to the Oakland Strong Foundation. The initiative is expected to launch in early November.

“This builds community in Oakland and Jack London Square,” Carlyle said.

Looking ahead, Carlyle plans to expand the menu with chicken thighs, chicken tacos and additional sides. He is also pursuing a liquor license to create a destination where customers can enjoy wings while watching sports.

For now, he is focused on growing his two locations. But with customers embracing his food and his commitment to giving back, Carlyle sees the possibility of bringing his chicken wings to more communities throughout the Bay Area.

By Special to The Post

Oakland has always been a city of innovators, entrepreneurs, visionaries, and world-class hospitality. Trader Vic’s—the birthplace of the original Mai Tai – first opened in Oakland back in 1934 on San Pablo Avenue, long before becoming an internationally recognized global brand. 

More than 50 years after it moved to Emeryville, Trader Vic’s is returning to its roots. Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee touts the return as another victory for Oakland.

“My administration is deeply committed to backing businesses like Trader Vic’s and Plum Market—partners who invest in our city, uplift our local workforce, and support thousands of local jobs,” Lee said.

The latest Trader Vic’s – called Trader Vic’s Outpost – is located at the Oakland International Airport in Terminal 2 near Gate 25 and had a soft opening in August.

With 108 dining seats, 28 bar seats and a counter for standing-room customers, travelers from around the world can have a full-service restaurant and bar experience or take-out for those with planes to catch.

Open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., breakfast, lunch, dinner, cocktails will be served.

Trader Vic’s returning to its roots confirms Condé Nast’s decision to name Oakland the #1 Food City in America two years in a row, and just earlier this month, ranked Oakland #6 on their list of Best Cities in the U.S.! 

“The opening at OAK is incredibly meaningful for us,” said Rhett Rosen, CEO of Trader Vic’s Hospitality Group, according to the company website. “Trader Vic’s was born in the Bay Area, and this new location gives us the chance to welcome travelers with a taste of that original spirit before they take off. It brings together everything people love about Trader Vic’s — great cocktails, flavorful food, warm hospitality and a little sense of escape — in a place that connects Oakland to the world.”

Trader Vic’s is an Oakland institution and one of the region’s most recognizable hospitality brands, said Port of Oakland Director of Aviation Craig Simon on the web site.

“Travelers are increasingly seeking dining options that are memorable, locally rooted, and uniquely representative of the communities they are visiting. Trader Vic’s delivers all of that while providing a high-quality food and beverage experience for our guests. We are proud to welcome this hometown favorite to Terminal 2,”

The original Trader Vic’s in Oakland:  

In 1934, with an investment of $500, Bergeron opened his initially small restaurant at 65th Avenue and San Pablo, serving comfort foods for lunch and dinner and beers and whiskeys. As his clientele grew, so did his restaurant, expanding space and menu options. After visiting this establishment, famed San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen proclaimed that the “best restaurant in San Francisco is in Oakland.” 

There were as many as 25 franchises worldwide, including the U.S. Trader Vic’s is now headquartered in Martinez.

Here’s a transformational idea: everyone should have access to safe, healthy and affordable food.

If this idea doesn’t feel radical to you, then perhaps you haven’t spent much time in the Southside of Chicago and its adjoining suburbs.

Food insecurity is rampant in our neighborhoods. If you live in Washington Heights, you are practically guaranteed to experience lower food access than the average Chicagoan – with similar circumstances in the South Shore, West Englewood or West Pullman.

It has been clearly documented that “Food is Medicine.” In fact, according to countless scientific studies, good nutrition is critical during cancer treatment. It empowers your body to maintain muscle, rebuild damaged tissues and better withstand aggressive radiation or chemotherapy. A patient with access to nutritious food will experience fewer side effects, like fatigue and nausea, and will have less need for extra medicines. In short, good food improves a patient’s daily life.

Instead, though, a Black woman with breast cancer in our South Side neighborhoods or suburbs has the opposite experience. In fact, if “food is medicine,” then we are inarguably in a crisis, and it is disproportionately affecting Black women with breast cancer.

As co-authors of the Pinkprint and members of the Chicago Better Together Breast Cancer Disparities Think Tank, an initiative launched to address the disproportionate impact of breast cancer mortality on Black women in Chicago’s South Side and South Suburbs, we know that by combining data-informed strategies with community-driven advocacy and leadership, we will create equitable, sustainable outcomes for those most affected by breast cancer and the lack of access to nutritious foods in their communities.

Solutions start as local initiatives. We must pilot community-driven solutions in areas with the highest breast cancer mortality rates and limited access to nutritious food.

Existing local programs – food pantries, community fridges and even hospital-run delivery systems – are a critical piece of this local infrastructure. They are just a component, though, of the robust nutrition infrastructure the South Side lacks. In the long-term, our neighborhoods need clean, well-stocked grocery stores – and we must demand that our elected officials do everything they can to attract and retain these food corporations to invest in our communities.

This is just one item on their to-do list. Long-term solutions will include policy changes and targeted incentives at the city, state and federal levels. Just this spring, over 150,000 people in Illinois lost SNAP benefits, a devastating cut with ripple effects across families into entire neighborhoods. These cuts disproportionately affect people in the South Side of Chicago – not to mention, overwhelm food banks and other centers that serve as part of our social safety net. The Families Receiving Emergency Support for Hunger (FRESH) program in Illinois provides a one-time, automatic $400 cash payment per eligible household member to residents who lost their SNAP food benefits. This will help ease the immediate negative effects of these cuts and is much appreciated. But it is not a long-term solution.

When we started conversations in work groups about this project, we started with the idea that Black women deserve equitable access to quality breast cancer care. Any conversation about breast cancer care and goals for improved outcomes, must include a conversation about nutrition justice.

Nutrition justice is not just a transformational ideal: it is an idea that will literally transform our neighborhoods and the quality of life of every single person living in them. It will put grocery stores in empty storefronts; it will deliver food to a breast cancer patient going through chemotherapy.

Nutrition justice will help improve breast cancer outcomes for Black women on Chicago’s South Side. And Black women should not have to wait.

This op-ed is the second in a series focusing on eliminating breast cancer mortality in Black women on Chicago’s Southside. The authors are part of the Chicago Better Together Breast Cancer Disparities Think Tank, an initiative launched to address the disproportionate impact of breast cancer mortality on Black women in Chicago’s Southside and South Suburbs. Together with other community leaders, they have co-authored the Pinkprint, a strategic multistep plan and call-to-action on this critical issue.

The post She’s Not Non-compliant, She’s Hungry: Addressing Food Justice to Improve Breast Cancer Outcomes appeared first on Chicago Defender.

Based on reporting by Chicago Defender.

By Richmond Standard Staff

Seventeen California public school districts, including West Contra Costa Unified (WCCUSD), have joined a purchasing cooperative to pool their buying power and expand access to organic food in school meals.

The nonprofit Conscious Kitchen recently announced the launch of the Conscious Organic School Food Purchasing Cooperative. Its founding districts serve more than 300,000 students combined.

The cooperative partnered with food distributors UNFI and Sysco to expand the organic products available to participating districts. Combining schools’ purchasing demand helps distributors plan with suppliers while creating more dependable markets for organic farmers and food makers, according to Conscious Kitchen.

Other eligible California school districts can access the cooperative’s products and pricing through its existing contracts without conducting their own bids. Mt. Diablo Unified School District serves as the lead district for the cooperative’s grocery bid.

Other districts involved include: Alameda USD, Albany USD, Berkeley USD, Capistrano USD, Cupertino Union SD, Hayward USD, Laguna Beach USD, Lagunitas Elementary SD, Mt. Diablo USD, North Monterey County USD, Pajaro Valley USD, San Leandro USD, San Ramon Valley USD, Santa Clara USD, Sausalito Marin City SD, Tahoe-Truckee USD and West Contra Costa USD.

Barbara Jellison, WCCUSD’s executive director of food services, said the cooperative builds on years of work bringing fresh, organic food into school kitchens.

“The next challenge has always been how to make that possible for more districts,” Jellison said. “The Co-op gives schools a way to take what we have learned and move it to a completely different scale.”

By Ruth Dusseault, Bay City News

The Marin County Board of Supervisors adopted a three-year pilot program that will allow cooks and food entrepreneurs to prepare and sell meals from their homes on Sept. 29

The Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operation program, or MEHKO, will establish a permitting process for small-scale home food businesses. California state law allows licenses if local governments opt in.

“This will deliver immediate financial relief to entrepreneurs in areas like Marin City, West Marin and the Canal neighborhood, removing barriers right where economic opportunity is needed the most,” said Shannon Bell, consumer protection supervisor with Marin County Environmental Health Services, at the meeting.

MEHKO licenses fill the gap between cottage food permits, which only apply to non-potentially hazardous foods like baked goods and jams, and full commercial kitchens.

Microenterprises can serve as commissaries for up to two mobile food operations; they require food to be prepared and served the same day. They are exempt from commercial facility requirements, such as industrial grease traps and commercial stove hoods.

The program allows takeout or on-site dining with strict limits of 30 meals per day, or 90 meals per week, and an annual sales cap of $100,000.

The pilot would begin March 1, 2027, and permits would be capped at 100 per year. Application fees are $725 with an annual renewal fee of $414, but fee waivers for a third of the permits are reserved for low-income communities.

After two years, supervisors will consider making the program permanent.

“By eliminating the need for commercial leases and expensive equipment, entrepreneurs can safely test their businesses and ideas with minimal financial risk,” Bell said. According to statewide data from the Cook Alliance, 85% of MEHKO operators are women, immigrants, and people of color, and over 70% rely on this income to support their families, she said.

Bell also said unpermitted sales are already happening in areas like the Canal.

Local Vendors Seek a Legal Path

Marina Palma advocates for San Rafael’s Canal neighborhood, which is home to a vulnerable community of over 13,000 low-income residents. About 84% are Latino and roughly half of all households spend more than 50% of their income on housing.

Palma told the board that the pandemic caused many Canal residents to lose their jobs, and that’s why the neighborhood has so many vendors selling food in public. Because they have no license, enforcement actions can be harsh.

“They have really high tickets of $600, and their food has been thrown away,” said Palma.

She said MEHKO would help vendors get an official license, but she questions whether vendors will need a Social Security number and be legally in the country.

According to the home-chef’s national nonprofit Cook Alliance, MEHKO applicants need no proof of citizenship nor a Social Security number to obtain a permit.

“I’m from Mexico, and I’m one of the mobile vendors,” said Elsie Vega through a Spanish translator. “I have two jobs. Everything is pricey — house, food, everything. I am here to work hard, to pay taxes. I don’t make enough money to pay the community kitchens.”

MEHKO license holders must pass inspection under the oversight of the Marin County Department of Environmental Health Services and comply with local zoning, parking and noise ordinances.

California authorized MEHKO programs in 2019. Seventeen counties have since adopted them, including Sonoma, San Mateo, Solano, Contra Costa, Alameda and Santa Clara counties.

Other commenters who spoke in favor of the program represented a range of food system and small business organizations. They included the Agricultural Institute of Marin, which operates nine Bay Area farmers markets, the University of California Cooperative Extension, the Cook Alliance, the West Marin Food Systems Group, which coordinates farm-to-school food access, and the Marin Small Business Development Center.

By Richmond Standard Staff

West County residents can receive locally grown produce through Urban Tilth’s Farm to Table Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, with home delivery and pickup options available.

Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia highlighted the program in his newsletter, pointing out that his district office in El Cerrito serves as a pickup location.

Weekly or bi-weekly subscriptions include seasonal greens, vegetables, fruits and herbs. Produce comes from Urban Tilth’s North Richmond Farm and farms within 200 miles of Richmond, including small family farms and those owned by BIPOC, women and LGBTQIA+ growers.

Subscriptions also support hands-on job training for local youth and volunteer opportunities.

The standard price is $50 per week, which Urban Tilth says reflects the true cost of fresh, sustainably sourced, locally grown produce. A subsidized “Food for All” price of $15 per week is available for individuals and families with extremely limited financial resources. Both options provide the same produce and service.

Gioia’s office is located at 11780 San Pablo Ave., Suite D, in El Cerrito. To sign up or learn more about pickup and delivery options, visit urbantilth.org/heal/csa.