Let's Chow, Jordan Foley
We are expanding our fleet to four food trucks all across the nation, allowing us to help more veterans.
Let’s Chow is a nonprofit designed to provide services for military veterans through cooking therapy, cookware donations, culinary education, and business advice for anyone from home chefs to aspiring food trucks or restaurant owners. Look out for our Veteran-run food trucks in Annapolis, Atlantic City, Miami, and San Diego. Let's Chow is a dedicated community builder. Through our range of services, we are the “go-to” for veterans and military spouses seeking to enhance their culinary talents. Whether it is impressing guests for a dinner party or operating one of our trucks, we have you!
During law school, I experienced the death by suicide of a friend and fellow veteran who fell into debt starting his own business. In 2020, I founded Let's Chow to help veterans break into the culinary industry.
I was commissioned into the Navy in 2012 from the US Naval Academy and served on submarines prior to becoming a Navy JAG. During law school, I experienced the death by suicide of a friend and fellow veteran who fell into debt starting his own business. In 2020, I founded Let's Chow to help veterans break into the culinary industry. I finished culinary school in 2021 and use a lifelong passion for cooking and mentorship to help others achieve the American Dream.
Let's Chow honors America’s veterans and military spouses by providing a pathway to learn vocational skills in the culinary arts. The transition to civilian life can be daunting when considering a complete career change. Whether someone has no food service experience or is a retired Culinary Specialist, we can help. Let's Chow gives veterans the opportunity to own and operate food trucks. We bridge the gap between a veteran leaving the service and entering the culinary industry through our Food Truck Training Program (FTTP). The FTTP sets up select veterans with a food truck, menu, branding, supply chain support, food safety training, and much more. These veterans operate under the Chow support umbrella as we provide logistic and technical support. The goal is, once the veteran or military spouse has learned enough about the culinary industry, they are free to pursue their own business venture - perhaps opening a restaurant of their own. Through the profits of these trucks, Let's Chow pursues other initiatives supporting veterans and military families through cooking therapy, cookware donations, culinary education, and online recipes.
I was in culinary school at Anne Arundel Community College and taking entrepreneurship classes. The concept of starting a business was so foreign to me, that I gravitated to SCORE to seek answers.
SCORE assisted with our business development programming. Let's Chow helps about 15 businesses start each year and much of what SCORE offered us we can offer to these small culinary startups in our program.
Bruce was always willing to talk through my plans. He never once tried to impose his views on me but rather sought to make my vision work. There is nothing like Let's Chow in the nation so it took a lot of creativity and coaching to make this work.
If you have passion and drive, you will find a way to succeed.
It is a perfect starting point but also the best navigational aid you have for your entrepreneurial journey. Find a mentor you click with and communicate with them early and often.
