FLINT, MI — For nearly three years, the Flint Social Club has provided a voice and kitchen to Flint’s next big culinary wizards. It has been a space to grow, a space to learn and experiment. It is a place to cultivate new recipes and twists on traditional and international cuisine through conversation. It’s a nonprofit organization operating in the intersection of food and entrepreneurship, said founder Tony Vu. And now, the Flint Social Club prepares to close this chapter at the Flint Farmers’ Market, announcing on social media platforms that its last day open will be April 5. Vu wrote a five-paragraph letter to the public, which was shared out on The Flint Social Club’s social platforms. Here’s what it said, signed by Vu: With deep gratitude to our supporters and vendors, we regret to share that Flint Social Club will be closing its operations at the Flint Farmers’ Market. While we would have loved to stay, this decision was not ours to make. Our final day of service will be Saturday, April 5th, and we’ll be open during our regular hours until then. Please come through, grab a bite, and show some love to the crew as we close out this chapter. The Market has been a special home for us. From organizing Night Markets to hosting pop-ups, it’s a place where we built community, launched small businesses, and showcased the incredible diversity and talent that exists in Flint. We’re deeply proud of what we’ve built together and grateful to our team, our partners, and every person who came through and supported our mission. Though our time here is ending, our work continues. Flint Social Club will keep pushing forward — uplifting local talent, building equity in the food system, and creating new pathways for connection and growth. Stay tuned for what’s next as we eveolve and explore new ways to serve Flint. Thank you for breaking bread with us. We hope to see you before April 5th. Before the space was known as the Flint Social Club, Vu ran his own popular restaurant and market stand MaMang, which held space in the market and customers bellies for a decade. Vu spoke to the Journal in 2023 about the Flint Social Club, and the market stand known as Heartwood. Related: We Are Flint: Chefs fueled by passion, connect with community through love of food He described it as a teaching kitchen where people are hired interested in the hospitality industry. “They get the experience and knowledge of how to run a food business. Not only just best practices to run a kitchen, run a line and work alongside each other, but they are also working on the business side,” Vu said in the December 2023 article. “On top of all of it, they work on their own brands, showcase their own foods in the stall and pop-ups as well. We want to cultivate the raw talent we have in Flint. “I always ask them to find their food identity. ‘What would be the one go-to dish you would cook if you were trying to impress someone?’ From there, once they answer that, we work on the opportunity to get vulnerable and put themselves and their food out there, and begin their relationship with the community. As they continue, chefs can develop new dishes and things the community hasn’t seen before without feeling like it’s too much of a risk because they’ve built a bond and relationship with Flint foodies who will support them.” In the kitchen, chefs learned how to run a fast, casual food stall, as well as creating food and pop-ups. This is a home base for people to take over a full-functioning kitchen, and run a pop-up successfully, as well as the training and understanding of how a commercial kitchen runs, Vu said in 2023. “The heart of our operation is to provide opportunities,” he said. “A lot of very talented artists lack opportunities, so we’re really creative to see the unused landscape, repurpose and program a lot of spaces. We have a lot of outreach to make pop-ups in spaces.” Read more on MLive.com