RAMMY-Nominated Eatery Doubling As Training Facility Settles Into MoCo

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — Driven by a desire to enact change, founder Kerry Brodie launched the nonprofit Emma's Torch in 2016, going on to open bases in New York and D.C. Now, roots are being set in Silver Spring.

Emma's Torch is a two-part operation that includes a fully functioning cafe and a culinary training facility. While diners are served on the front end, students are learning the culinary trade a few steps away.

But this isn't your run-of-the-mill training operation. The organization gears its services toward empowering refugees, asylum seekers and survivors of human trafficking through financial independence gained from culinary training.

The paid apprenticeship runs over the course of 11 weeks. Throughout the years, more than 700 students have signed up for Emma's Torch, coming from a variety of countries such as Ukraine, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Haiti, and Venezuela.

Brodie told Patch that the decision to set up shop in Silver Spring was made in response to the region's diverse communities and welcoming spirit.

"Silver Spring has just been rolling out the welcome mat for us," Brodie said. "Our city councilmembers all came to visit before we started construction. Our delegates have been so supportive. The nonprofits in the area, the food vendors in the area."

"We're just really excited to get to be a part of this vibrant community because it's already just really made us feel so welcome," she added.

What cemented the move even more was finding a location that conveniently had two separate kitchens and gave the staff a little more breathing room. Brodie described the find as something that was "a little bit like fate."

Before the group arrived in the county, it operated out of D.C.'s Brookland neighborhood for less than two years. The new Silver Spring facility affords the organization a 4,500-square-foot space where students can execute their lessons, which plays off the cafe's menu of breakfast and lunch dishes.

Some of those menu items include house-made chai, cortado, smoked cheddar broccoli tarts, egg and cheese biscuits, and brown butter pancakes.

During the group's time in D.C., Brodie said she had students who were trekking in from parts of Montgomery, Prince George's and Baltimore counties.

"We're curious to see now that we're in a new location, do we see more from one county or another? But we're also really excited to see kind of who comes through our doors," she told Patch.

Students Embraced By Restaurant Industry

Emma's Torch largely gets its students through word-of-mouth recommendations from past graduates or current enrollees and partnerships with dozens of nonprofits in the region that are in touch with individuals who've newly arrived in the state.

The culinary knowledge that students come in with varies, according to Brodie.

"We have students who have worked in restaurants in their countries of origin. We have students who have PhDs in other subjects. We also have students who have maybe never had learning opportunities beyond a very elementary level, or students who have never had the opportunity to work outside the home, but cooked for their families for years," she said.

"It's a really wonderful thing to watch as the educational process continues — that growth and confidence that our students have."

While some shows may publicize culinary training from an intense, fast-paced perspective sprinkled with the occasional yelling, that's not what Emma's Torch students are subjected to.

"Nothing can be further from the truth in terms of what our students' experience has been," Brodie said, describing operations in New York and the D.C. region as "really welcoming."

"They're really operating our restaurant, our cafe, and we try and make it as realistic as possible, but also as nurturing as possible. And I don't think that those things are diametrically opposed," she said.

"Our students, by the time they graduate, they know what it is to serve brunch to hundreds of people. They know what it is to execute high-level catering galas. They know what it is to clock in the morning, clock out in the evening, and to navigate changing stations in a hot kitchen."

With nearly a decade in operation, Brodie said she's had overwhelmingly positive feedback from the restaurant industry, which included receiving a RAMMY nomination in 2025 in the Fast Casual Restaurant of the Year category.

"What I think is even more beautiful is it's not just lip service," she told Patch. "It's the way that chefs have opened their doors to hiring our students, to promoting them, which has been really uplifting, and we look forward to continuing to see that."

Brodie said that when Emma's Torch hears back from past graduates, they're being told that the curriculum truly prepared them for the industry.

"They felt like they knew the ropes and they'd earned their spot there," she said.

Making Emma's Torch A Reality

Emma's Torch takes its name from Emma Lazarus, a Jewish poet known for her charitable work for refugees. She also wrote "The New Colossus," a sonnet that was partially inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty.

While the organization was launched in 2016, Brodie said she had a desire to enact real change years before the nonprofit was realized.

Brodie comes from a public policy background, having worked with the Human Rights Campaign and volunteering at homeless shelters.

"The conversations that I was having with the women at the shelter just really stuck with me," she said. "The idea that we can all have a conversation about what we like to eat for breakfast, what food means to us, cooking with our parents, all of these kinds of human experiences that can be separated by so many other barriers."

And then came the photo of 3-year-old Alan Kurdi, who drowned in 2015 after the overcrowded boat carrying him and his family capsized off Turkey. The incident happened during the height of the Syrian refugee crisis.

The photo of Kurdi lying face down on a Turkish beach struck a global nerve, prompting many to turn their attention to the humanitarian crisis at the time.

"I kept staring at that photo and trying to make sense for myself of, like, what are we doing? I think that public policy is so important and critical, but I lack patience," Brodie told Patch.

"I kept thinking about — we have to find a way to remind people that we're all human. We have to find a way to make it so that we're clamoring to let more people in, not trying to put up higher borders. And so, that, to me, was really how this idea started to float around in my mind."

The nonprofit ultimately came together quickly over those next several months "because so many people really quickly latched onto it and helped turn Emma's Torch into this real community," Brodie said.

"I'm really grateful for that."

While the organization is focused on its new location, the drive to spread the message of Emma's Torch is catching. Brodie said she consistently receives messages from residents wanting to launch similar operations in their own communities.

Emma's Torch will officially open to the public on Friday. Diners can stop in at the cafe, located at 1200 East-West Highway, anytime between Tuesday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Are you a local business owner? Post a business listing on Patch! It’s an easy way to reach a local audience and connect with customers close to home. Go here to get started today.