Mother's/House of Bridges

Hi!

I'm a chef in Milwaukee looking to open an LGBTQ+ 3rd Space, Restaurant, and Queer Art Collective called House of Bridges. I've worked virtually every job a has to offer, and have cooked or been a chef at 4 James Beard nominated restaurants including Braise, Amilinda, Odd Duck, and Ardent.

Since March of 2024, I've been running the restaurant portion of this concept, called Mother's, in pop-up form at Ardent most Sundays (roughly 4 days a month) while working part-time as the chef in the Ardent Tasting Room. I've also participated in charity events, catered a private wedding, and hosted private celebrations. I will also be participating in the Flavors of Africa and Diaspora Gala on November 10th, 2024 among some of the best restaurants in the city as a humble pop-up with no location of their own as of yet.

But my goal is much bigger than eating and drinking. I aim to create a space that not only provides quality food, beverages, and entertainment, but acts as a low-key and elegant alternative to the existing LGBTQ+ spaces, where we're driven by community education, engagement, support, and organizing, while acting as a platform for chefs and other artists in our community to make a living for their creative and artistic endeavors.

The food, beverage, and entertainment is meant to have something at every price point to maximize guest base while ensuring a diverse array of experiences, ranging from a croissant and coffee to-go, to dinner theater omakase and tasting menus in order to appeal to the ever growing percentage of LGBTQ+ individuals as it grows less and less stigmatized, especially among the maturing millennial and Gen Z demographic with no signs of it slowing down. 

As a veteran of the Milwaukee dining scene, my connections in restaurants run deep, and I'm spoiled for choice when it comes to kitchen and service staff, such that I could be staffed practically overnight. The convenient thing is that the Venn Diagram of artists, LGBTQ+, and restaurant workers has appreciable overlap. 

We have found a space we'd like to rent, in what we consider an ideal community, with the space to accommodate all we aim to do. 

We are seeking initial investments totaling 300,000 dollars for securing this space, purchasing equipment, hiring staff, booking performers, initial ordering, and redecorating. An additional 250,000 dollars would allow us to remodel part of the space to create the event room, where we would hold events and tasting menus, and another part of the space to create a second kitchen for production and events that would also be rented per diam to aspiring chefs who need a commercial kitchen to produce something in accordance with the law.

Thank you for reading!

- Chef Vanessa Rose