The Soul Kitchen: Another Pay-As-You-Want and Eat-As-You-Need Restaurant

We first visited the social entrepreneurship project of Panera Bread’s pay-as-you-want and eat-as-you-need restaurants in June 2010, and then followed up with a video about their success a year after. I am not sure if Jon Bon Jovi was inspired by the Panera Bread’s social entrepreneurship idea, but I know he opens a restaurant call The Soul Kitchen in New Jersey, which is modeled by the pay-as-you-want and eat-as-you-need concept, and he plans to open more Soul Kitchens in the future.

Leaving alone the possibility that Jon Bon Jovi was trying to get rid of his negative stigma, as suggested by CBS News, I love this concept. People volunteer in the kitchen or in the community if they cannot afford for a meal. Or, they leave a donation for the meal.

I believe that this pay-as-you-want and eat-as-you-need concept works very well with the urban farming and farm to table trend in many communities. What do you think? Will we expect more restaurants that offer “free food” in the future? Will this concept “vanish” soon when the recession is over?

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