In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, our nation faced a significant loss of commercial kitchen capacity, leaving many food-insecure individuals without access to nutritious meals. Volunteer groups, food pantries, and local churches struggled to maintain safety standards and find enough volunteers to serve those in need. However, at Soulcial Kitchen, we believe that the solution to this problem is not to spend millions of dollars on creating new commercial kitchens, but rather to utilize what is already available to us – the humble food truck.
Food trucks have seen exponential growth in the past few years, and the trend has only continued since the pandemic began. They are already present in virtually every city in the U.S., and domestic annual sales exceeded $1 billion in 2022. Recognizing the power of food trucks to transform the way communities serve the underserved, we successfully established the first Department of Labor certified Food Truck Apprentice Program in the nation in 2021, working with local and state officials from Illinois.
Since then, we have provided thousands of hours of training in areas such as food truck operations, menu creation, hospitality management, and safety and food service health standards. Our primary objective at Soulcial Kitchen is to professionalize and systematize how food truck operators approach their mission, providing skills, training, and mentoring to enhance execution and business management skills. We aim to change the way communities think about providing hot meal access to their most vulnerable and at-risk constituents.
With over a 60% failure rate in the existing hyper-fragmented food truck ecosystem, it’s clear that there is a need for our work. By educating and assisting communities, we can make a real difference in the lives of those who need it most. Join us at Soulcial Kitchen as we work to transform the food truck industry and serve those who are most in need. Together, we can make a real difference in our communities and our nation.