Dining with Dignity at JBJ Soul Kitchen

Since its founding in 2011, JBJSK has served over 275,000 meals at its four New Jersey locations: Red Bank, Toms River, Toms River Pop-Up at Ocean County Library, and Rutgers–Newark. It is part of the 2026 James Beard Impact Award winner Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, which was established in 2006 with a mission to break the cycle of hunger, poverty, and homelessness. At the time Jon Bon Jovi was a co-owner of the Philadelphia Soul arena football team and was looking for a way to give back to the community. The Foundation started by partnering with local charities to help distribute resources as the need arose. “And then one day he was looking out the window in Philadelphia, and he saw a man sleeping on a grate and he's like, ‘Homelessness. That is something everyone can understand and relate to, and it’s a problem everywhere,’” Bongiovi says. “So that became his focus.”

Since then, the Foundation has expanded its scope and reach; to date, it has provided funding to housing and hunger projects in 12 states plus Washington, D.C. When the first JBJSK opened in Red Bank in 2011, the Foundation shifted more of its focus to New Jersey but continues to fund mission-aligned projects around the country. It was Dorothea's idea to create JBJSK. “You know the movement of pay-what-you-can-restaurants? So, I had heard about that, and I became obsessed with that idea of a restaurant. Like, we’d all been to soup kitchens, foodbanks, food pantries, things like that,” she says. “But I thought, what if there was a restaurant where people could go and have a beautiful meal in a dignified way? And instead of paying what you want, what if they volunteered their time and the paying people paid for the volunteer piece?”

Each JBJSK location features a chef-crafted, three-course menu; part of its conception of dining with dignity is offering diners choices. Each meal includes a soup or salad—say, a zucchini corn soup or Greek-inspired salad; an entrée, like pistachio-crusted salmon or spring vegetable primavera; and a dessert, either fresh fruit or chef’s choice. Menus change every two weeks and often feature garden-grown produce such as lettuce, herbs, tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini from JBJSK’s Red Bank and Toms River locations. JBJSK also procures ingredients from a stipend contributed by one of their partners, ShopRite. “We try to keep things local, fresh, organic, when possible,” Bongiovi says. “We have a strong belief that healthy food is not a privilege; it’s a right in this country.”

JBJSK restaurants are staffed by paid employees, including executive chefs and line cooks, and a mix of volunteers—both trained volunteers who assist with kitchen prep work, serving, and washing dishes, and in-need diners who volunteer their time doing maintenance tasks such as sweeping, bussing tables, or tending the garden. Part of the experience of dining at JBJSK is that customers have learned to expand their definition of people in-need. “They’re not going to present how you think they’re going to present. Some do. A lot of people have jobs; a lot of people have disabilities. There’s a wide range of people who come in who you would never suspect,” Bongiovi says. “When you come to JBJ Soul Kitchen, 78% of our diners identify as in-need. So, you see it every day. When you come there, you are effecting change directly, right at the table next to you.”

Over time, in-need volunteers build a relationship with one point person at JBJSK, fostering trust and dialogue that facilitates addressing barriers and connecting them to the right resource or organization. Sometimes, that means directing people to JBJSK’s resources; the Toms River location is part of The B.E.A.T. Center, where they’ve partnered with Fulfill and the Peoples Pantry to create a hub for free community services, including assistance with food, housing, utilities, mental health, substance use, domestic violence, SNAP, health insurance, and job skills.