Cindy’s Kitchen

BROCKTON

Cindy and Ed Byers grew up in Brockton and have always had a strong commitment to making their community a better place to live.

In 1999 they founded Cindy’s Kitchen, an organic salad dressing company and located it in a small facility on Belmont Street. They hired a diverse workforce from the Brockton area and provided good paying jobs and benefits. In the early years, Ed and Cindy drove employees without cars to and from work, ran ESL classes at the workplace and helped with childcare issues. As demand for the gourmet salad dressings and dips grew, the Byers’ recognized they needed to find a larger facility. They searched Brockton for the right site because they wanted the company to remain in Brockton, close to its workforce. When Cindy and Ed found the right site, they talked to The Life Initiative about financing approaches to buy and fit out the building located at 40 Industrial Way.

TLI introduced Ed and Cindy to the New Markets Tax Credit Program and Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation. Together with MHIC, MassDevelopment and Sovereign Bank, TLI provided financing that made the acquisition and rehab fit out of the new headquarters possible. The company’s expansion allowed it to increase production and the number of jobs—now over 100—available to Brockton residents.