Neighborhoods Pretty Much Saved Us
By: Eliza Berkon
Locals Are Pooling Their Restaurant Orders Into Regular Food Drops
The suburban stops also have been a win for food trucks, whose business in downtown D.C. petered out dramatically last summer.Silver Spring-based food truck Money Muscle BBQ has made roughly 60 neighborhood visits, including to Woodmoor, since its maiden voyage last fall. The mobile eatery is an outgrowth of the pandemic, says managing partner Jennifer Meltzer, who launched New England-inspired restaurant All Set in 2015 with chef and spouse Ed Reavis. At one point, the neighborhood drops constituted about 25% of their revenue, Meltzer says.
“Before the pandemic, we were playing with ideas to increase revenue here, and Silver Spring didn’t really have a lot of barbecue options,” Meltzer says. “When the pandemic happened, it was an opportunity. … It turns out that barbecue can hold better and almost steam in the container and you still get a high quality of product.”
The truck has delivered Texas brisket and cheddar sriracha biscuits to communities and wineries in Virginia, Maryland, and D.C., and also participated in Food for Montgomery, a charitable program offering free meals to local residents struggling with food insecurity. Some neighborhood food drops in the region also have a philanthropic side: For an upcoming Brookland drop, Filipino eatery Bad Saint has partnered with a D.C. farm that supports a mutual aid group in Ward 5.
When asked how instrumental Money Muscle has been to the company’s survival, Reavis says, “It is the instrument.”
“A couple of concepts that expanded in the country somehow during this crazy time were barbecue and sushi. … I’m from the South, and so barbecue is something that I grew up with,” says Reavis, who grew up in Emporia, Virginia. The restaurant has invested in enormous wood smokers, added barbecue to its All Set menu, and plans to send a second food truck out while parking the original outside as a walk-up food outpost. “It’s been an overwhelming amount of support from the community.”… [Click HERE to view the article]
