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Photo by Jessa Pease.
Keith Richards
Taziki’s owner Keith Richards invited the students from the HOPE program to stand on stage with him while he addressed the chamber.
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Photo by Jessa Pease.
Taziki's
The students tend to five different herbs Richards uses at his Taziki’s restaurants. Once the herbs are ready to be picked, the kids sell them back to Taziki’s.
The herbs at Taziki’s offer more than nourishment. They offer personal growth.
That’s because Taziki’s restaurants have an outreach program called HOPE — Herbs Offering Personal Enrichment. Partnered with Shelby County Schools, this project gives children with special needs the opportunity to gain experience with Taziki’s by either working in the restaurants or growing the herbs it uses.
Restaurant owner Keith Richards discussed this partnership and how the program came about at the South Shelby Chamber of Commerce luncheon Sept. 4.
“Believe it or not, these kids know more about herbs than probably all of us combined,” said Richards. “At the end of the day they are seeing how a business is built, and so it’s fun for all of us.”
Students tend to five different herbs used by Taziki’s restaurants. Once the herbs are ready to be harvested, the kids pick them and sell them back to Taziki’s. Richards also employs the students to work in his restaurants.
“It’s so hard to crush down that wall and break down that barrier that [says] these guys can’t roll silverware,” Richards said. “To us, that’s a menial task that is so simple to do. These guys live for it.”
He went on to explain that many of the students are able to take on other duties such as making the sauces or picking grapes.
The whole idea started about 10 years ago when Keith won a cruise with his wife, Amy. While Richards made friends with the band and jumped in as their impromptu drummer, Amy made friends with a woman who brought up hiring special-needs children.
Richards said at first he wasn’t sure how it would work out, but the first student who ever came to work for him is still working at Taziki’s. Now, all seven of his restaurants in the Birmingham area participate in the program and hire special-needs students.
“Every time I would open a restaurant, thank God for us, I would get a new student,” Richards said. “That was always fun.”
For his franchisees, Richards said he always explains project HOPE so that all of his 37 current Taziki’s locations can reach out.
There are two reasons he said he stays active with this project — the kids and their parents.
Richards is the father of two sets of twins, and he said he knows how difficult it can be just to have four children. He wants Taziki’s to be “a sigh of relief” for the parents of special-needs children because Taziki’s can provide the kids with something to do every day.
“God has blessed me with the fortitude and the spirit and the help to create this restaurant concept, and we just have to give back when we can,” Richards said.
