Music

Jon Bon Jovi offers a cheap alternative to fast food with new pay-what-you-can restaurant

by Nicole Villeneuve

For two years, Jon Bon Jovi has been operating a “community kitchen,” serving pay-what-you-can meals in different locations; the idea is to have the local, healthy meals be an affordable substitute to fast food for low-income individuals and families. Now, he has opened a full restaurant, Soul Kitchen, in Red Bank, New Jersey, which is near his hometown Sayreville.

“At a time when one in five households are living at or below the poverty level, and at a time when one out of six Americans is food insecure, this is a restaurant whose time has come,” Bon Jovi told New York magazine (via The Guardian). “This is a place based on and built on community—by and for the community.”

Customers who have a few dollars are welcome to pay what they can offer for their meals, and otherwise, they can offer various services in the business as payment instead.