Foodies on a mission
by The Quotidian
Are charitable food businesses the wave of the future? We see how San Francisco’s Mission Street Food went from taco truck to charitable benefactor in almost no time.
When former Bar Tartine cook Anthony Myint and his wife Karen Leibowitz set out to create a foodie distraction with which to occupy their spare time, they didn’t expect their taco truck sublet to turn into a local phenomenon with national attention. But thanks to their impeccable taste and timing (street food is in!) as well as with the help of the San Francisco Bay Area’s Internet savvy and food-obsessed denizens, their Mission Street Food experiment has since grown into a twice-weekly food event that amasses crowds outside of an otherwise lackluster Chinese restaurant in San Francisco’s Mission District.
The success of these nights has also transformed Mission Street Food into a serious charitable business, as more than $17,000 was donated to local charities during the part-time restaurant’s first 10 months of operation. Mission Burger, a lunchtime burger stand that Myint started inside the Duc Loi Supermarket a couple doors down from Mission Street Food, has also generated more than $2,500 in donations during its first three months of operation.
While the idea of donating sales proceeds to charitable causes isn’t necessarily new, what’s impressive about Mission Street Food is that it’s taken place in the dining world, where profit margins are notoriously hard to come by even with the most established restaurants and competition is cutthroat. Mission Street Food has succeeded as a foodie destination and business in spite of (or perhaps because of) its charitable roots, proving that it’s possible to be a successful small local business with a great product while giving back directly to the community in a real, meaningful way.
In this video, we find out what’s cooking at Mission Street Food on another of their busy nights, visit a couple charitable organizations to see how money donated from the event is being used to benefit the community, and we also take a look at how MSF’s charitable model might soon be replicated in a neighborhood near you.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by bayareabites, Marcia Gagliardi. Marcia Gagliardi said: nice vid about @missionstfood and mission burger and running a charitable food business: http://bit.ly/6fI0gV [...]
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