New “Toni’s Grill” Food Truck Helps Toni’s Kitchen Reach Those with Food Need

There's a new food truck in town–the new "Toni's Grill" food truck made its debut in November of last year and has been a great enhancement to Toni's Kitchen's mission of getting healthy food to neighborhoods in our service area. The new truck and the increased service it is providing is the culmination of a lot of thoughtful work by a great team of people, led by Toni's Kitchen volunteer and Advisory Committee member Rich Brown, the volunteer team that works with the truck, and the TK kitchen crew.

Rich found and managed our initial TK food truck back, which began service in 2022. The first truck served as a model for this new outreach program. As the program has grown, its success and what we learned from the process made it clear that it was time for a new truck to better handle the need.

"Having 'Toni's Grill' out in the community has helped Toni's Kitchen identify families in our community who have not been connected to the food system in a way that gives them access to healthy food," says Anne Mernin, Executive Director of Toni's Kitchen. "It also is able to get food to many in our community who are dealing with chronic illness, mobility issues, or cognitive disability. Our food truck is also a great help to people who don't have cooking facilities where they live, college students (who often prefer "grab and go" food options), and the unhoused."

The new truck is 21 feet long and has everything you need to prepare great food. "It allows us to offer a series of healthy menu options and more balanced meals including freshly cooked vegetables and a variety of protein options," says Rich Brown.

"Toni's Grill" typically is out in the community serving food on Tuesdays and Saturdays. We will soon increase the number of days per week the truck is serving food, and adding service to Bloomfield. The truck is also available for fundraising events.

Our new food truck was made possible by meaningful donations from Amazon, the Community Food Bank of New Jersey, BDP Holdings, and the Elios Family Foundation. We are so grateful to these funders for their help.

What's happened to the previous Toni's Grill food truck, you may ask? We will have news for you soon so stay tuned!