Help us get back out there!

Good day and well met everyone! Some of you know me but some do not, so first...

Let me introduce myself.

My name is Clinton, pronounced with an -inton!

My wife and I have owned and run CleverFoodies Catering in the Los Angeles area since mid-2014. We have fed people during movie and commercial shoots, parties, various get-togethers, and even everyday lunches at a couple of large-scale warehouses. I do most of the menu planning and main entree cooking while my wife Samma is a master of baked goods and desserts. For about 5 years we were thrilled to see all the happy faces of people that got to eat our food that mixed new flavors and techniques with memorable & nostalgic comfort dishes.

In 2019 we took a gamble and tried to get into the Food Truck industry by buying an old shuttle with hopes of building it out into our dream. We even got the chance to go on Food Network's Great Food Truck Race with high hopes of learning how the truck works, and what is needed to make our life all about Baby Got Mac; 90s themed goodness where we turn hometown favorite dishes into Mac & Cheese delights. We weren't nearly cutthroat enough to get very far in the competition, but it did solidify that running THAT food truck was what we wanted to do. Needless to say, other than about 1500 followers on social media, it didn't lead smoothly onto the path we were hoping for.

Then COVID happened. The pandemic hit so many people so hard that it was inevitable that our lives would have to change. The catering business crashed hard. The kitchen we rented closed permanently. We moved in with Samma's mother to save some money until, hopefully, things might get better. But things really haven't gotten much better since 2020.

Other than about 3 or 4 small catering jobs, we have been wholly unemployed since the world closed up in March 2020. Living with family has helped alleviate a lot of the financial burden that comes with surviving in California, but 3 years have completely wiped out any savings we had AND started creating debt that we currently have no way of paying off. On top of that, for the last year and a half, we have been dealing with various medical setbacks in both mental and physical health. Finally, we were told that in recent years California has implemented that all Food Trucks must be built by a certified Mobile Food Facility contractor, which I am not. We have put off asking for any kind of financial help from anyone other than the family members we are living with because we know that everyone is going through struggles and in the grand scheme of things, why should anyone else have to help us get back on our feet? We just don't want to be any more of a burden than we already are. Food Stamps keep us fed, Medi-Cal lets us attempt to deal with the health issues, and we have a roof to sleep under. But the situation has been taking a toll this year on us mentally.

We are in a position where "just getting a job" actually hurts us. We would lose Health Insurance and Food Stamps, so any work we took would have to be enough to also cover those, and the medical costs will not be inexpensive. After weeks of trying desperately to come up with a plan forward from here, we are taking a wild stab in the dark that maybe we should just ask anyone who has the means for some help.

That's what this GoFundMe is for. We have found a couple of used Food Trucks that work for the ideas we have. Those food trucks cost between 60 and 80 thousand dollars. So that is what our goal is. To hopefully raise enough funds to buy a truck so that we can get back to making food for people to enjoy. Anyone that knows me knows that above all else, I love to cook for people. I like to think I'm pretty okay at it, and would love to get back to providing fun and tasty Mac & Cheese to the masses.

If you are unable to help monetarily, I completely understand. I have many friends that I wish I could help but am unable to. Even letting others know about our situation, or politely asking a rich uncle for a few spare hundos is also appreciated, lol.

Thank you to anyone that managed to make it to the bottom of this wall of text. Know that we are incredibly sorry that we even have to do this, but are literally at our wits end on what comes next without the help of all of you. Stay safe out there everybody!