For his 21st birthday, Jaden Smith did not throw a party. He launched a restaurant. The son of Will Smith had been thinking about food insecurity on Skid Row in Los Angeles, where tens of thousands of people live without reliable access to meals, and he decided that a birthday was the right moment to do something about it. The result was a vegan food truck called I Love You Restaurant, which he operates with a world-class chef named Tabitha Leeper and a model designed to turn the concept of paying for food inside out. If you are homeless or experiencing food insecurity, you eat for free. If you are not, you pay more than the food is worth, so that the person behind you can eat for nothing. Each activation serves up to 500 hot meals alongside bottles of water and donated clothing, and the truck has traveled beyond Los Angeles to reach communities in New York and other areas with high food insecurity.
Smith has described the name as intentional. He cites research suggesting that the words themselves, when placed on organic matter or spoken to people, create a measurable positive change, and that he chose I Love You specifically to send a message of warmth and belonging to the people the truck serves. The operation is funded through corporate partnerships and merchandise sales, not donations from the public. Smith has been clear on that point: the restaurant is for the people, not funded by them, though buying a piece of branded merchandise is the best way to support the mission if you want to. He eventually hopes to open a permanent brick-and-mortar location with expanded resources, but for now the food truck continues rolling toward the people who need it, one activation at a time.
Source: https://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/jaden-smith-free-restaurant-for-homeless
