Nothing sets off the warm fuzzies like giving back to the community by enjoying a hot meal — and helping out local entrepreneurs in the same bite. This week marked the first “Food Truck Tuesday” at Second Harvest Food Bank’s Metro Center parking lot, where hungry patrons enjoyed lunch from
Happy Eating,
Riff’s Fine Street Foodand
Labor of Love. (Moovers and Shakers had to bow out this time due to truck trouble.)
The event gives diners an opportunity to support the bustling local food-truck industry, while 10 percent of all purchases goes directly to Second Harvest. And with every dollar at Second Harvest able to feed four people, the benefits just keep rolling.
Riff’s co-owners Carlos Davis and B.J. Lofback came up with the idea after learning about similar food-truck charity events in Los Angeles. The partners pitched the idea to Second Harvest, and after about three weeks of planning, a partnership was born. Second Harvest provides a parking lot for the food trucks and an air-conditioned retreat for patrons, while the food trucks can do business in a weekly location and raise money to feed Tennessee’s hungry.
Lofback and Davis are seeking vendors for the event, which is scheduled to take place every week in August and September from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Each week will feature different food trucks, and according to Ally Parsons of Second Harvest, today’s event went better than anyone anticipated: Around 300 orders were served, and the trucks started running out of food around 12:30 p.m.
To find out the weekly truck schedule for Food Truck Tuesday, visit Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee on Facebook, Twitter or at secondharvestmidtn.org
