Ep 99 | Costello’s: Serving Up Sandwiches & Setting Up for Success

SPEAKER_00 0:00

That moment was March fifteenth, twenty twenty. I I was woke up at three thirty in the morning. I had a a dream from God that he told me that these kids were gonna need food and you're gonna feed them. And he it was spelled out on a board. So everything I seen in my dream, I woke up, I wrote it on Facebook, and then I sent it. Sent it to who? Sent it out for the world to see. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every student in Escambi County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support every student's success. If you grew up in the 80s, you might remember Cheers, where everybody knows your name. Each character felt like they had a spot waiting just for them. That's the feeling my next guest is trying to create through a butcher shop. Costello's butcher shop in Delhi is feeding 100 to 150 kids a day with free takeout meals. Today, my guest is going to share why and what's next as she works to build community and build up people. From Minnesota to Florida, serving sandwiches with love, Christy Costello. I'm so glad you're here. Thanks for having me. It was super nice. Oh, well, thank you. I'm glad you appreciate it. Your Pensacola food history goes back a little bit. I found that really interesting. Tell me about Rusty's fish camp.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

That was my aunt and uncle's my uncle, target captain of the Lexington here on base. They've they've been here since her family, early 30s. So they're they're the original people. And Rusty's was a southern at-home place to go. You just everybody went there and they shared everything. I'm sure some of the listeners even went there. I'm I bet they did. I get a lot of customers that that are familiar with Rusty's.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

So when you were living in Minnesota, you would come down and visit, and you would also go to Rusty's fish camp to eat. Yep. And we stayed next door.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

They had a little house next door, and and that that was where everyone got to stay. You come down for spring break and you eat mullet, hang out on the beach, and hang out with them. Yep, mullet and greens. That's it. That's it. And then tell me about Blues Cafe. Blues Cafe was uh my husband wanted a restaurant and he found a building. He built it from scratch, from the ground up, and we were all in. All in. It's not for the week. Let me just put it that way. It's a 24-7 job that you do. And downtown Pensacola is small. So you you have certain time frames that you gotta take deliveries, you gotta, you're there 24-7. It's a lot of work. So the butcher shop was heaven sent when he wanted to do that.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

So you sold Blues Cafe, and the butcher shop came into the picture. And you know, switching from a restaurant to like a butcher shop, that's I'll call it a normal-ish move, right? But what's not normal-ish is not what you are selling, but what you're giving away at the butcher shop. Exactly. So tell me, tell me about the moment where you were like, you know what we're gonna do? We're gonna give away food to kids. Tell me about that moment. When did that happen?

SPEAKER_00 3:22

That moment was March 15th, 2020. I I was woke up at 3 30 in the morning. I had a dream from God that he told me that these kids were gonna need food and you're gonna feed them. And he it was spelled out on a board. So everything I seen in my dream, I woke up, I wrote it on Facebook, and then I sent it. Sent it to who? Sent it out for the world to see.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Yeah, on the page.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Yeah. Wow. And then I waited for my husband to wake up to let him know we're we're giving everything away.

unknown 3:55

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

And that's how it went down.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Oh, okay. Well that is very interesting. So what was the response to that Facebook post? From my husband or the people?

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Let's start with the people, and then we'll go to your husband. The people, they they didn't know what to think. I think they thought they had to pay for it. So when they came in, they're like, Well, how much are those? I said, Well, cost at that time it cost me $2.39 a lunch. I said, Oh, it's about $2.39, but I'm giving it to you for free. And they're like, Well, what's the catch? I said, No, I just think that this community is gonna need a lot of love. And these kids, where we're where we're at, they don't have a lot. So I wanted to be something dependable and reliable, and they felt loved and not separated because everything was getting separated at that time. So I just wanted to be that hub where they they could come and depend on me. And your husband? Uh he was like, we don't have any children. I said, I know. He goes, Well, what if 10,000 kids show up? I said, then we're gonna make 10,000 sandwiches, is is what we're gonna do. And then he he's all on board now. He you can see he he loves it. He loves it.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Had the needs of the community been on your radar prior to having that dream?

SPEAKER_00 5:10

No, because when Costello started, we were retired. And then my husband wanted, he kept egging me on to do something. He wanted to do something again, get connected in the community again. It took about four years before he just opened Costello's. He goes, This is what we're gonna do. And we started the butcher shop. And so then I thought, well, this will be fun. It's kind of an extension of our house, things that we love, wine, cheese, all the stuff, all my friends are gonna be there. And uh now we have a grocery store. It's not how he sold it, but here we are.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Wow, so it's really built out since then. Yeah. Since giving away the sandwiches, um, what have you learned about the situations of the kids' family lives that would warrant them needing food?

SPEAKER_00 5:59

A lot of them are uh single parents that are working all the time. So the kids are home alone. A lot of them uh just don't have the means to to supply something on a steady, steady base. I mean, I I get them come in yesterday. I had a lady come in, her EBT card, she only had a little bit left. You can't buy hot sandwiches on with EBT. You can only get grab and goes. She didn't have enough, so I just rung up what she did have enough, and then I just buy the rest. It's it's changed me forever. I I can I can relate. I was a single parent. I I didn't I didn't know it would be this impactful to me as it is now. It's changed me forever.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

It sounds like it's impacted you as much as it's impacted the people that you're serving.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Definitely. Definitely. I see I see my customers, they know they can depend on us. And they're they're good to us. They shop with us loyally. They it it goes both ways. Are there many grocery stores in that area? Uh we have grocery outlet across the street, Dollar General, and CBS. So that's about it. They're loyal to you compared to those places. That's a big deal. Yeah, we I've watched the kids, we've been there five years now. So I've watched I've been I employ a couple of them. They were they were little shopping with us and now they work for us.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Wow. Yeah. Is that something that is within your radar is to create employment opportunities also? Definitely.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

We employ, well, we did employ a a guy, he's 38 years old, his name's Flynn. He has Down syndrome, and um, my husband saw him walking up and down the road pushing a grocery cart. And one day he came in asking for a job, and uh Darren hired him, and Darren took him under his wing, and he uh made all the lunches for the lunch program every single morning. He would come in and put the lunch bags together, he'd make the sandwiches, he he was doing it. Long story short, his mother um ended up passing away, and there there was no plan put in in store for Flynn. Flynn is now he's in a facility that um I'm I'm I'm praying that that I'll be able to get guardianship of him eventually once he can get everything that he needs medically set up. He's changed my life in a big way because uh he never stops. He is my only employee that has never been late, has never called in sick, rain or shine, and he walked to work every day. He still I got we seen him last week and and and he's still joyful and he's still happy and never complains. He's just waiting for for us to come get him and and he wants to go back to work. That's amazing. Yeah, I love that. Definitely. I'm building a hub uh over on the west side next to Gary's brewery, and it's gonna be a learning center, and I'm gonna have a commissary kitchen in there, a butcher department where I'm gonna be able to teach them life skills that can give them employment, communication skills, just life skills, things that they're they're not they're not accustomed to. They don't they don't get those opportunities outside of just going to school. That's that's the interaction they have or running the streets. But I'm gonna build a hub for them and teach them how to be productive.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

So tell me more about that. What's that gonna look like? Uh it's gonna be gray and pink. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

Big gray building. We're gonna have a huge commissary kitchen in there. I'm gonna have food trucks eventually that will line the perimeter. My hopes is when the food truck people I'll give them a spot to have their their trucks in return. Once the kids learn how to run a deli, how to how to do the things that we do at Costello's, the food truck people will employ them. So then it becomes an entrepreneurship. That the harder they work, the more they're gonna they're gonna make. They're gonna see everything they've they've learned money, communication, food, what they can do with the food that that they're given. They're used to shopping in um food pantries. So we teach them how to make things with the items that they're gonna get from the food pantries. It doesn't have to be, you know, blah. It can be something gourmet and something fun.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

Wow. Okay, so you mentioned the more successful they are in the food truck, the more money they make.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

Because it'll be kind of a split.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

Profit sharing? Yeah. Kind of so when they're doing the work, I'm just gonna supply the place, the food, and then they they learn it and we we split it. You can't take it with you. So I'd rather see them benefit from it while I'm alive.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

You definitely have developed a love affair for Pensacola. Yeah. And uh it's one that began obviously with your uncle and visiting here over the summer. But the food truck also comes from a strong connection with family. Can you tell me about how your grandma and your mom are kind of interwoven into the food truck part of what you have going on?

SPEAKER_00 11:03

Yep. So my grandmother is pretty much who spoke life into me and raised me and made me who I am today. My mother passed away before my grandma. The money that I inherited, my mom should have got, but she passed away. So my grandmother left a little bit of money, and the money that she left, I bought the food truck. With the purchase of the food truck, I intend to use that to help up-and-coming chefs, people that want to learn how to do the food truck life or entrepreneurship, they can use it. And what they make is what they make. It's theirs. They can buy the product from me, they get the money, the proceeds from that, they donate to the kids' launch program. So it's a win-win.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

And that's something you have going on right now, right? Apparently, yeah. Okay. And so that's really more like an entrepreneur uh branch. They they are completely running that app.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

That's their business, but that's Costello's truck. We own it, but I'm letting them use it to help help them better their life. And who's them? Right now we have uh Big Moose, Big Moose Barbecue. He's in there. We had Chef Ed Lordman, and that was in there. My husband's in there a couple days a week. I have Miss Gabby, who's a new up-and-coming mom. She she's in there on Sundays doing wings. So a little bit of everybody is in there. Anybody that wants a chance or needs a spot, uh, that's that's where they go.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

How do you see the interaction playing out between the butcher shop deli slash grocery store, the food truck that you were just speaking about, and the up-and-coming hub?

SPEAKER_00 12:44

The hub is going to take the kids, educate the kids, give them a spot. Once they get through that and they and I feel that they're ready to go, I can employ them at Costello's, or they can start maybe trying to build their own business into my food truck, you know, just try it there. And then hopefully, like, you know, they graduate and they move on and and become bigger and better.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

So you mentioned that you have relate to some of the families who are struggling to make ends meet because you were a single mom. And I've read that your mom also had some struggles, and that's really influenced your outlook. Can you share about that? Definitely.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

My mom was an alcoholic. She had me very young. She, my dad was young also. They did the best they could with what they knew how to do. I seen my mom struggle every day that that she was alive up until the end when she moved down here. And when she got down here, she was sober. She was she was my mom. She was everything I prayed for and everything I could ever dream of. She was, she was her her life was so impactful to me. It has changed me forever. And and that's how I know God's real, because He He performed a miracle in her and uh she was worth the wait to change me. She got here, and uh a year after she got here, she was diagnosed with cancer. And on my birthday, she called and she said that uh it wasn't good and that um she she had terminal pancreatic cancer. And six weeks later she died. And so her life was not a waste. And I promised her I would tell her story to anybody that wanted to listen because she did it. She and she was saved and and she she's still impacting lives, and that's where the Kimberly Tower Foundation comes in. She's gonna she's gonna live on and she's gonna help the kids that are lost and don't have anywhere to go. And I intend to be that voice.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

Not just her namesake, though. It sounds like the spirit of turnaround.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Yeah. She um she thought her, you know, and on her dying bed, we've talked about how she thought she wasted a lot of time and wasted a lot of her life. And I told there's you didn't waste anything, and your life was not what you are. I can't tell you one bad memory about my mom. That's how impactful she was and how wonderful she was. She was bigger than life. And and she did it. She did it.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Do most of your customers know the story?

SPEAKER_00 15:28

Um, they do. Some of them do now that it's it's been out there, but I never I never thought about telling the story until I see the kids that uh in in and I see single parents that are are versions of my mom, and they need it, they need to know. They they're not alone. You're you're it doesn't define you. You anybody can do anything.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

Yeah.

unknown 15:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

What's the timeline for the Kimber Kimberly Tower Hub?

SPEAKER_00 15:58

I'm hoping we are in there by the end of June. That that's that's what I'm praying for. But you you never know. It could be sooner. It could be sooner. It could be sooner. Is there gonna be a big uh grand opening? Oh, yeah, definitely. Yeah, we'll announce it and uh I'll put an ad out and I'll uh definitely email you so that you can see it.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

You can come and have some bread over there to see the kids. Absolutely. Yeah. I love that area of town.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

I think that would be amazing. As we wrap up, what do you want families that are in um the Costello's butcher shop neighborhood to know about what do you want them to know?

SPEAKER_00 16:36

We're not just a store. I I I want you to feel like you're at my house. I want you to feel like you're my family, that we're dependable. Um, nobody's perfect, but but I'm here for the long haul. My husband's here for the long haul, and uh, I hope that that uh I can help change someone's someone's life.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

I think you're on your way. I hope so. Thank you so much for sharing today and sharing in the community. Thanks for having me. I think your heart is felt. Thank you. Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of Escambia County Public Schools.