At Flash Grüb, we’re always looking for meaningful ways to give back to the community and create opportunities for the next generation.
The idea to participate in the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) actually started with an Instagram post. Back in January, I came across a post from Mayor Zohran Mamdani that caught my attention and got me thinking about how I could become more involved in supporting young people and their professional development.
That post sparked a simple question:
What if Flash Grüb could open its doors to young people looking for real-world work experience?
I wanted to find a way to mentor young people while making the experience genuinely valuable. Rather than simply talking about the importance of creating opportunities for the next generation, I wanted participants to have a chance to learn, contribute, ask questions, and experience what it’s like to work at a growing company.
That idea ultimately led us to NYC’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP).
Flash Grüb’s participation was made possible through funding from the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD). Children’s Aid recruited and connected the young participants with the program, while Flash Grüb provided the worksite and hands-on learning experience.
Together, the partnership gave the participants an opportunity to develop professional skills, gain real-world work experience, and explore potential career paths across the food, technology, marketing, and business industries.
Four Participants, Real-World Experience
This summer, Flash Grüb welcomed four SYEP participants to the team. Instead of simply assigning them basic tasks, we wanted them to experience different parts of building and growing a business.
A major part of their experience was learning about customer discovery — understanding who our customers are, what they need, and how to learn directly from them. The participants practiced talking to customers, asking questions, conducting surveys, and gathering feedback.
They also gained exposure to product development, marketing, and branding, giving them a broader understanding of the different pieces involved in building a business. We explored how colors, fonts, and visual design can influence how people perceive a brand and the psychology behind different design choices
The experience also introduced them to marketing and branding. We explored how a brand communicates with its audience and how seemingly small decisions — such as colors, fonts, and visual design — can influence how people perceive a company.
We even discussed the psychology behind colors and fonts and how different design choices can communicate different emotions, personalities, and messages.
The participants then put what they learned into practice by creating their own Flash Grüb flyers. This allowed them to think about the customer, the message, the design, and how to communicate an idea visually.
More Than a Summer Internship
For us, the experience has been about more than simply providing a summer internship. It has been an opportunity to expose four young people to different aspects of entrepreneurship, technology, customer research, marketing, branding, and product development.
They were able to see that building a company isn’t just about having an idea. It involves talking to customers, asking the right questions, testing your assumptions, listening to feedback, experimenting, and continuously improving.
At the same time, having four young people join the team has been a learning experience for Flash Grub as well. Their questions, ideas, and perspectives have given us an opportunity to look at our own business and products from a fresh perspective.
For me, this is what mentorship and community involvement are about: creating an environment where young people can ask questions, try things, make mistakes, learn, and gain confidence.
I hope the experience gives each participant skills they can carry with them long after the summer ends — whether they pursue entrepreneurship, marketing, technology, design, the food industry, or another career path.
For Flash Grub, participating in the NYC Summer Youth Employment Program has been one small way for us to give back while helping young people take their first steps into the professional world.
And it all started with seeing a post on Instagram and thinking: We should get involved.