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At Bon Jovi's Restaurant, Pay What You Can

'Soul Kitchen' lets customers work for their dinner in New Jersey

By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 21, 2011 2:01 PM CDT

(Newser) – At Jon Bon Jovi’s new restaurant, you can get “cornmeal crusted catfish with red beans and rice” or “grilled salmon with soul seasonings” without paying a cent. The restaurant aims to feed the hungry—but that doesn’t mean the meal is totally free, the Christian Science Monitor reports. You can offer a donation, or “you can bus tables, you can wait tables, you can work in the kitchen as a dishwasher or sous chef,” the rocker says.

“If you come in and say, 'I'm hungry,' we'll feed you," he notes. "But we're going to need you to do something. It's very important to what we're trying to achieve." The restaurant is housed in a former auto body shop in New Jersey; its goal is to provide an alternative to soup kitchens, he says. "You can come here with the dignity of linens and silver, and you're served a healthy, nutritious meal."

Jon Bon Jovi, center, poses with kitchen workers at the Soul Kitchen restaurant in Red Bank, NJ, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Rock star Jon Bon Jovi answers a question as he sits in the Soul Kitchen restaurant in Red Bank, NJ, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Rock star Jon Bon Jovi during the opening of the "pay-what-you-can" restaurant. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Musician and community activist Jon Bon Jovi at the grand opening celebration of The Soul Kitchen. (Getty Images)

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 34 comments

Firedagger

Oct 23, 2011 1:55 PM CDT

There are still a lot of good, honest, and decent folks around. I lived in NYC for over 40 years so I am naturally skeptical. But I saw a $1.00 for one hour public parking lot in Houston TX which has no attendance but a box on a post with numbers of the parking spaces on it. Underneath the numbers are small slots where you can put your 1 dollar in it. (I can't believe this place is running on an honest system!) While I was reading the instruction on the post, another guy came up to put his dollar into the box and we both saw there is a dollar bill sticking out on the slot next to his slot. He folded up his dollar bill to push the sticking-out bill back into the slot, and then he put his own dollar bill into his own slot. I just realized he didn't drive in but walked in. So I ask him why. Then he told me he park here an hour ago and now he is here to put in another dollar for the next hour. I was stunned and happy to know there are still good folks around...So I hope this restaurant will work. But if it failed, then it only shows "we" failed it because some of us are taking advantage of the owners' good wills and rip them off....If I am still living in NYC, I will go over there once a week to help out in the kitchen. This way, I can learn how to cook and get a free meal, a win-win situation...?

passinthru

Oct 22, 2011 1:28 PM CDT

it WILL succeed...because not every poor person is looking for a damn handout like the media wants you to believe. a 100% of the people i know would work for a meal if they didnt have any money.

Just_Dave

Oct 22, 2011 7:48 AM CDT

The cost of doing business combined with our litigious society means this effort will need deep pockets and high dollar management to sustain for any period of time. I would love to see it succeed.

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At Bon Jovi's Restaurant, Pay What You Can

'Soul Kitchen' lets customers work for their dinner in New Jersey

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music • New Jersey • restaurant • dining • Jon Bon Jovi • rock music

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