Taste of the State is a memorable fundraising event with exquisite food prepared by top chefs from the finest restaurants in New Jersey, taking place on May 22. Leading up to this event, we will have smaller events with famous chefs and celebrities, to not only fundraise for Soup Kitchen 411's programs but also destigmatize hunger and activate more warriors in the fight against hunger.

100% proceeds from Taste of the State go to funding Soup Kitchen 411's flagship program, FeedNJ, reinvesting in local restaurants and subsidizing food distribution locations' workload. Soup Kitchen 411 actively pursues grant and private philanthropic funding avenues year-round to maintain its extensive, publicly-accessible database of over 250 tri-state area and general hunger-awareness campaigns.

Soup Kitchen 411 is a hunger-awareness with a Platinum rating on Guidestar. Its flagship program, FeedNJ is an aggressive campaign to fight food insecurity and support restaurants across New Jersey by purchasing hot meals from local restaurants and serving them for free with soup kitchens and other distribution partners.

The Community Food Bank of New Jersey has found that 13.5% of all residents and 19.7% of children in New Jersey are projected to be food insecure due to COVID-19, nearly double the respective pre-COVID-19 numbers.

Food pantries play a pivotal role in combating food insecurity, in conjunction with soup kitchens and programs that offer already-prepared nutritious meals to go. Because many working people do not have the time to cook raw goods, or sufficient kitchen space at home to prepare them, demand for ready-to-serve meals at soup kitchens has more than doubled during the pandemic, while volunteer opportunities have been minimized due to social distancing. The result is soup kitchens having to do more with less. Meanwhile, restaurants are hurting with wave after wave of COVID-19-related challenges. During recessions, many people cut their spending in the hospitality sector, but restaurants need patrons to survive, especially small and independent restaurants. FeedNJ has bought nearly 500,000 meals from beloved local restaurants to serve at soup kitchens and community and faith-based organizations.

Nationwide, 1 in 6 restaurants shut down because of the pandemic in 2020 alone.

In New Jersey, over 25% of independent restaurants have been forced to shut down, according to the New Jersey Restaurant and Hospitality Association.

As Stephanie Cartier, Founder of No Limits Cafe in Red Bank, said "Soup Kitchen 411 has been an absolute blessing to us because they're meal orders have given our staff hours and work they might not get otherwise. And it helps our team to know that their meals are helping others, because usually our staff is on the receiving end of aid, and now they're really able to give back. Soup Kitchen 411's FeedNJ program has had a whole array of benefits for us."