The Journey to The Cookery

Tucked in the heart of Nashville, just off 12 South, The Cookery is more than just a café—it’s a place of transformation, hope, and second chances. Although on the surface it appears to be just another eatery, it is part of a ministry that provides a training opportunity for formerly homeless or incarcerated men. Here they learn culinary arts and are prepared to enter into the food industry once they complete the program. 

Executive Director, Brett Swang, explained the mission. “So, The Cookery in essence is a community minded café that serves gourmet level food. But,” he added, “It’s in a God-sended environment,” where people really feel safe to do life together. s

Although the Cookery serves delicious food and tasty drinks, it’s all, “smoke and mirrors for what happens in the back.” Here, men who were once incarcerated or homeless enter into a three-to-five month training program culminating in a certificate of high level food management safety

 systems, a credential recognized around the county. However, this certification is not the prime objective of the program. Swang shared the true goal, which is to get healing, to find who they are, to get restoration, to reconnect with family, to serve the community and to be made whole.

What began in 2008 as ‘Church in the Yard,’ serving food and holding Sunday services for the homeless, evolved into The Cookery in 2013. With the mission to do more than provide temporary relief—to break the cycle of homelessness and create lasting change. Swang shared more of his journey to The Cookery. “What [God] gave me was to come to Nashville, what he didn’t give me was: I was going to be homeless.” Reading the Bible, Swang discovered the instructions for travel, “no money, just the clothes on your back, right?” He recalled, “I didn’t have a highlighter, I just read what he said to do and that’s how I came.”

This period of homelessness in Swang’s life shaped his heart for the work he does now. He said, “Homelessness,  even though I didn’t volunteer for it and I didn’t understand what was happening… It became my school of compassion for the poor.” He felt he was able to see into a window of what people struggle through. And once God showed him a way out, his perspective shifted away from viewing the experience as just a dark period. Instead he was able to redefine the experience as “a well of compassion, of understanding, of mercy, of intimacy [and] of hope.” 

Swang came to realize that God “didn’t save me just to be homeless,” there was more going on. He decided he would trust God. Within a week of this decision, someone from Fleming Steak House came on community service, helping to shift the trajectory of Swang’s future. He received training and over time came to the decision that he wanted to give back and started a restaurant. A friend suggested giving them a job. Swang’s initial reaction was to say no, but after his friend said, “but we could give them hope and a future.” Swang changed his tune as he recalled Jerimiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

And thus the restaurant was founded, although they had no money and there was a large mess to clean up and a great deal to repair on the inside, they were excited to see what would come of their venture. 

Swang explained what he’s seen come out of the Cookery. “I’ve never seen the physically dead raised yet, but I have seen men walk in in ragged clothes, dirt-filled, smelling, hair a bird’s nest, and no light in the eyes. And within weeks, months; hope reignites the heart’s flame and we get to see people come alive again, and really it’s the greatest job, it’s not the café, it’s seeing people come alive.”

Swang noted, “So we have no idea of what we’re gonna do in people’s lives, when we love them and see them, it may be the only time they feel seen.” At The Cookery, people don’t just receive a good meal or a job, but spiritual nourishment. And as they find restoration, they can become beacons of hope for others. Change may only be one interaction away.

The Cookery is known for its incredible cinnamon rolls.