By Julie McCay Turner
When the words “Community Partner” arise in conversation with local non-profit organizations, the next words are often “Flatbread Fundraiser.” The popular restaurant offers flatbreads (aka pizzas) created using locally-grown ingredients baked in a wood-fired oven. The offerings also include vegan flatbreads, gluten-free desserts and house lemonade made with local filtered water, maple syrup and fresh-squeezed lemons. And every Tuesday night, a portion of their sales benefit local organizations.
Local Focus
Joe Silva, managing partner of Flatbread in Bedford, grew up on Independence Road and began his restaurant career at age 14, scooping ice cream and sweeping floors at Bedford Farms. The intervening years were spent rising through the ranks in the restaurant world until he came to Flatbread six years ago.
To spread the magic of Flatbread, Silva commissioned a mobile pizza oven mounted on a pick-up truck frame after seeing one at a specialty food expo in Las Vegas. The truck and its wood-fired oven can now bring authentic Flatbread pizzas, baked with fire on stone, to organizations far and wide.
Benefit Nights
Johnny and Jay, the company’s founders are ‘community-minded individuals’ according to Silva.
Flatbread has offered a benefit night every Tuesday since the restaurant opened in Bedford 10 years ago. Each week a portion of each pizza sold during the benefit reverts to the recipient organization. Organizations are also invited to have an information table, sometimes with a silent auction or raffle to generate additional income.
To learn more about creating a Flatbread fundraiser for your organization, click Flatbread Benefit Contract for Bedford.
Each year, the weekly benefits generate roughly $30,000 for recipient organizations, so over the restaurant’s 10-year run in Bedford, it’s easy to claim more than $250,000 in contributions.
The variety of Bedford organizations served is broad, ranging from the Danny Oates 5K, Bedford Babe Ruth, Patrons of Music Students (POMS), Bedford Center for the Arts, Rotary Club of Bedford, Bedford/Hanscom Boy and Girl Scouts, the BHS Drama Club, Best Buddies of Bedford, Friends for Matty, and Citizens Scholarship Foundation. In addition, the restaurant often donates pizzas, gift cards to use as raffle prizes, and SeaDog fundraisers, that raise monies for small charities that benefit animals.
Upcoming Flatbread Fundraisers
- Tomorrow, Tuesday, January 26, B.E.S.T. PTO will be the recipient organization. BEST/PTO (Bedford Elementary Schools Together Parent Teacher Organization) is thrilled to have The Flatbread Company in Bedford! Joe Sylva and his team have been exemplary community partners over the years, and we are lucky to have them here in our town. Our BEST/PTO Flatbread Night on January 26, 2016 will raise funds that will be used to support enrichment programs at both the Davis School (Grades K-2) and the Lane School (3-5). From author and pilgrim visits to traveling theater productions to frog dissections and much more, we work hard to enrich the school experience of the nearly 1200 students we serve. Thank you in advance for coming out to Flatbread on the 26th to partner with us in this endeavor! To learn more about what we do, please visit our website at www.BESTPTO.org.
- And Tuesday, February 9, it will be Bedford TV’s night in the limelight. Bedford TV is delighted to get the support of The Flatbread Company through the benefit night. It’s a fun way for families to eat and support a local non-profit. We’re especially excited for our fundraiser because it gives us a chance to give back to the community in the form of live musical entertainment featuring some Bedford TV favorites. We encourage everyone to stop by and pick up a pizza! Learn more at www.bedford.tv
About Flatbread’s Menu
Lettuce Be Local, a ‘food hub’ committed to strengthening the community through healthy eating direct from local farms, delivers Massachusetts produce to Flatbread year round, and Bedford Farms supplies all the ice cream on the menu.
Bedford’s Flatbread is Zagat-rated – https://www.zagat.com/r/flatbread-company-bedford: “Fantastic wood-fired pizzas”, some with “high-quality”, “classic” toppings and some that “experiment” with “new”, “unique” ingredient combos (including gluten-free and vegan varieties), are served up “quick” alongside pitchers of “delicious and challenging” craft beers at this “family-oriented” regional chain; the Somerville location sports a “comfy”, “cool” setting with candlepin bowling lanes, while the Bedford branch has an industrial “rough-around-the-edges (on purpose)” vibe.
For directions, information, or to order online at the Bedford/Burlington Flatbread, click https://www.flatbreadcompany.com/FlatbreadBurlington2010.html
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