Courtesy Soulcial kitchen
One of the more ambitious, innovative ideas to come out of the pandemic is Soulcial Kitchen, a concept developed by Brigadier General (Ret.) John E. Michel, an award-winning author, motivational speaker, and restaurant owner; former marketing executive and restaurateur David Stidham.
Located at 2127 Lebanon Road in Shiloh, Illinois, the Soulcial Kitchen is a food truck–based cloud kitchen (also called a ghost kitchen), which will eventually serve as a hospitality business incubator for nurturing and growing new food concepts.
The concept was hatched when Michel reached out to Stidham for help with a barbecue concept. The lunch turned into a six-hour power meal. Realizing that the mobile industry and cloud kitchens had became more prolific during the pandemic, as well as considering Michel’s past advocacy for helping people in need, they forged a partnership, added a third component, and came up with an intriguing model.
“We’d all gotten used to pickup and delivery, but coming out of [the pandemic], people want to be inspired," Michel says. "Our thought was to wrap those two ideas in mission.”
Going Mobile
Beginning in June, the two plan to launch five food trucks, "starting with the biggies,” Stidham says, referring to barbecue, tacos, pizza, chicken, and hamburgers.
• A Fine Swine: After reluctantly closing A Fine Swine’s brick-and-mortar locations in November, Stidham plans to relaunch the concept with a box truck equipped with a wood smoker. Long-smoked meats, such as pork shoulder and beef shoulder, will be prepared fresh at the Soulcial Kitchen commissary, though an on-board smoker means additions such as hot, smoked pit beans, and loaded potato salad. A deep fryer allows for sous-vide, batter dipped-and-fried chicken thigh sandwiches, as well as such specialties as Piggie Puppies and Swine Rinds. Stidham teased his intentions on social media last month and booked $10,000 worth of catering in three days. A more formal announcement generated 25 food-truck bookings. Sensing high demand for barbecue this summer, Stidham then ordered a customized food trailer he could take to larger events and competitions. “Part of me wants to selfishly say it’s due to the pent-up demand for A Fine Swine’s barbecue,” he says of the award-winning brand, which was sidelined by the pandemic. In any case, Stidham says "the catering lines are now open."
• El Guaqo Taco: The fusion taco truck will feature smoked meat tacos, like crispy pork belly, beef cheek barbacoa, and carne asada.
• Neo’s Wood-Fired Pizza: A box truck equipped with a wood burning pizza oven will cook pizzas on site.
• NashVegas Fried: Stidham is from Nashville. Nashvegas is one of the city’s many nicknames. The truck will offer multiple varieties of fried chicken, such as country-fried, smoked-then-fried, Korean, and Nashville Hot.
• Minute Man Hamburgers: Michel is a partner in the all-veteran–operated group of burger-based food trucks, which allow veterans to become restaurant entrepreneurs. The Minute Man premise will be modified to dovetail with the Soulcial Kitchen.
Courtesy Soulcial kitchen
Courtesy Soulcial kitchen
• Space Shuttle Café: The “cherry on the cream pie” of the food-truck fleet is an airplane fabricated into a food truck—“the only road worthy DC-3 licensed for street use,” says Michel.
The 39-foot-long former fuselage serves as the attention-grabbing Weinermobile of the fleet, except that it’s equipped with a $140,000 commercial kitchen. “It can be a barbecue truck on a Tuesday and sell tacos on Wednesday,” says Michel. “It can represent our concepts or test new ones.”
Plans call for the vehicle to be introduced in the latter part of August and deployed with the rest of the food truck fleet. “There’s nothing like it anywhere,” he says. “People will be able to book one truck, several trucks, and/or the Space Shuttle Café.”
Cloud Kitchen
As the trucks get established, Soulcial Kitchen will also be introduced, initially with weekend pickup and some catering.
“Our plan is to offer maximum variety across four channels: online, delivery, takeout, and food trucks,” says Michel. “The only channel left out—intentionally—is the labor-intensive, sit-down dining segment, which is especially difficult right now.”
The cloud kitchen is slated for completion by August and will act as the home base for pickup, catering, and delivery, initially from A Fine Swine and El Guaqo Taco. Soulcial Kitchen will operate using both a third-party delivery company and self-delivery, which will include a small delivery fee, 100 percent of which goes to charity.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for people to experience our products and our mission,” Stidham says.
A Higher Mission
To help reduce the level of food insecurity in St. Clair County, the partners plan to introduce Currency of Caring, what they describe as a “dignified dining meal program” in the form of a token that’s redeemable at any Soulcial Kitchen food truck. The tokens are purchased at a discount (likely for $8–$9), less than the cost of most food-truck meals, and can be transferred person to person or distributed by churches, organizations, or government entities.
“It’s important that our Caring tokens can be redeemed at any of the concepts powered by the Soulcial Kitchen, both mobile and fixed,” Stidham says.
“By introducing Currency of Caring, we’re giving people a chance to buy something physical that can be redeemed for a hot meal, thereby eliminating the anxiety that goes with giving people money on the street corner," Michel says. "Municipalities in the Metro East have expressed interest since it’s a novel way to offer hot, restaurant-quality meals to the food insecure.”
A web address on the token makes it easier for recipients to know where to find the trucks. In St. Clair County, Michel says, there will be several high-traffic intersections that will be targeted for frequent visits. The tokens are good for any meal that the food truck offers, regardless of price. “We didn’t want to serve anyone discounted, lesser meals,” Michel says. “There’s a stigma associated with that.”
The program will grow as more food trucks roll out. “More food trucks mean more variety, for both the payees and the beneficiaries,” says Michel. “I see every truck we introduce as another node for the Currency of Caring, offering more points of contact and increased choice of product.”
“Just getting people involved in the act of charity is what excites me,” Stidham adds. “It’s so much more rewarding for people to buy something tangible, to get involved in the giving process instead of merely rounding up at a cash register and forgetting about it. When you can get actively involved in philanthropy, in even a small way, it does something for your heart.”
The hospitality incubator will also target what Michel calls “low-skill, high-passion individuals.” Besides providing a facility that could be used for launching food products, as a commissary, or as a headquarters for a small catering company, one of the goals is supplying individuals with customized, franchised food trucks, either operating company trucks or concepts of their own. “Once we get all of our projects singing in unison, we then help the next generation of food entrepreneur and grow that into multiple Soulcial Kitchens,” Michel says.
Behind the Vision
As the concept grows, other aspects of food-business management will be added, such as onsite food-service certification classes, customer service enhancement, development training programs, and long-term business planning.
Courtesy Soulcial Kitchen
The concept also has a connection to the 46-acre Restoration Ranch, a subsidiary of Shiloh Ministries, where Michel is a board member. To build sustainability into the nonprofit, plans call for an organic garden, which would also supply produce for the food trucks. Also possible: a family-friendly food truck and entertainment venue similar to 9 Mile Garden. “Everybody wants an experiential place like that here,” Michel says. “It’s a beautiful, flexible concept, but we have to roll out some food trucks first.”
With a fleet of food trucks with different identities but similar branding, as well as the Space Shuttle Café and Restoration Ranch, Michel calls the project a “highly organized, almost militaristic way to bring a differentiated experience to a lot of different people.”
Michel is responsible for developing the core model, strategic partnerships, and business execution. During his 26 years in the military, Michel held leadership positions in transportation, logistics, and operations. He's executive director of Skyworks Aeronautics, a leading manufacturer of high-performance gyroplanes. Michel's wife, Holly, a designer and artist, is helping develop the branding and marketing. Coleman Public Relations is handling the PR component.
Courtesy A Fine Swine
Stidham will spearhead food concept development and delivery. Besides A Fine Swine, Stidham's resume includes Culver Franchising Systems, where he was a key member of the leadership team and board member, as well as executive marketing positions Smoothie King, Raising Cane’s, and Shoney’s Restaurants.
The team also plans to partner with restaurants, not compete with them, Michel notes. Several have already expressed interest in making the Soulcial approach a collaborative community effort to provide entrepreneurship. In the end, Michel says, Soulcial Kitchen is “a story of how hospitality can deliver hope, innovation, and opportunity to many different people, beginning in St. Clair County.”
