Help El Norte Kitchen buy a FOOD TRUCK!

What is El Norte Kitchen?

El Norte Kitchen (ENK) is a family owned and operated event driven food service business that’s been in operation for two years and is based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. ENK serves Southwestern style comfort food, such as California burritos, tacos, loaded fries and desserts. ENK has operated as a pop-up restaurant (temporary restaurant that operates in various spaces, like existing restaurants) and is transitioning to a mobile food service business (food truck), with the goal to sell products at Farmers Markets, breweries, community events, weddings, graduation parties, catering, etc.

Our goal is to begin food truck operations by Spring 2021.




Who’s behind El Norte Kitchen?

Benjamin Allen (picture, right) – Benjamin Allen was born and raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He’s been cooking 10 years. Ben moved to Tucson, Arizona when he was a young adult, he fell in love with the style of cuisine that he was able to purchase while living there. When he moved home to Minnesota, he quickly realized that he wasn’t able to find or purchase the foods he fell in love with, in Tucson.

Ben was the youngest and first Executive Chef of color at W.A. Frost and Company in Saint Paul. His restaurant experience is wide and varied. When he met Tricia (his wife), the two of them started organizing pop-up events to showcase Ben’s cooking and the food he loved from Tucson.

Ben loves spending time in the woods and cooking over fire. He listens to a lot of awesome music and obsesses over pizza and burgers.

Tricia Allen (picture, center)– Tricia Allen was born and raised in the Twin Cities and has spent the majority of her career working in public education. She’s worked as a middle and high school teacher (Social Studies and Special Education) and as a Program Director for an alternative learning program. Although she’s left her career in public education to push her food business forward, she adores kids and is always paying attention to what is happening within public education.

Tricia loves tending to her plants, watching shows about food and logging miles in her MN State Parks Hiking Club book.

Elijah Allen (picture, left)– Elijah Allen was born and raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He has been working in the Twin Cities restaurant scene for almost 10 years. Elijah is not only a phenomenal chef, but he’s also worked in ‘front of house’ roles during his career. Elijah has been an integral part of ENK since its inception.

Elijah loves spending time in the woods and fishing. 




Mission and Vision Statement

El Norte Kitchen Mission Statement: To be active community agents serving dishes to anyone that enjoys Southwestern style comfort food dishes in the Twin Cities.

El Norte Kitchen Vision Statement: To be active and positive members of our community through warm service and delicious, ‘day-making’ kinds of foods.



Company Values:

With our Twin Cities community, our food, and our El Norte Kitchen family, we live these values: 

 ·       Inclusivity- Creating a culture of warmth and inclusivity, where everyone is welcome and has a safe place to belong.

·       Community- We believe delicious food brings people together. We strive to improve our community through providing affordable food and partnering with local businesses for community events. 

 
El Norte Kitchen is rooted in love, positivity and support. We envision El Norte Kitchen growing into a community beacon of gathering, where everyone is welcome to eat together and feel a sense of belonging. As we grow, we look to partner with community organizations and volunteer our business. We also plan to organize donation-based events to serve vulnerable populations.

 


Press

MSP Mag 

Chefs Feed 

Minnesota Monthly 

City Pages 

Twin Cities Hip Hop Corner 
 
Derrick Koch 



 From Pop-Up to Food Truck?
 
Yes, here is why:

Mobility - We’ll be able to fully realize our core value of community because a food truck allows us to visit endless locations and serve various communities within the Twin Cities.

 Safety - The Covid 19 pandemic has greatly altered the Twin Cities food scene and continues to do so. ENK feels most comfortable serving food in a truck because it’s outside.

 Autonomy - By definition, a pop - up is a temporary restaurant, which for ENK has meant that we’ve had to find spaces to sell our food product. We are ready to have our own space and serve our food, our way, we want our customers to have the full ENK experience from the time they order their food to their last bite.


The wonderful news is that we've been approved for a loan to purchase a food truck, now we need help with a down payment and general updates (paint, etc). Our goal is to purchase the truck by the beginning of December 2020, we plan to make improvements during the winter and be in full operation by Spring of 2021. 

The support will mean the world to us,  we'll be able to consistently feed our El Norte Kitchen Family and progress towards actualizing our core values of serving the community. 

Please know that we are sincerely grateful for any and every penny, dollar, shout out and/or share. 

Peace, Love and #rollup