Like many restaurateurs, Ronnie Taylor and Jason Angeles of IVSF Catering were blindsided by the onset of COVID-19 and its massive hit to their projects, and their community.

But rather than closing ranks to focus exclusively on their own house, the pair made a bold decision to place community service at the center of their Coronavirus pivot – keeping in lock-step with #FilipinosFeedtheFrontlines, a hot meals program operated by Plinth Agency’s non-profit arm, Kultivate Labs.

Today – after months of grueling 70+ hour weeks and strategic partnerships with both Kultivate Labs and the Great Plates government initiative – Ronnie and Jason are proud to say that the returns on this people-first investment have enriched their business far beyond the bottom line.

“As one of the first San Mateo restaurants approved for Governor Newsom’s Great Plates project, our work actually helped structure the program. At first, it was really hectic. One day, there might be 50 seniors to feed – but a day later that number could double, so it was a struggle to figure out prep, shopping, and logistics. But once we got into a groove, we created systems that not only improved our business, but operating efficiency – and also helped Great Plates get a solid gauge on how to make things better for all restaurateurs,” Ronnie said.

“Every day, we’re continuing to learn how best to operate in the current Covid environment, because the traditional way of doing business as a restaurant isn’t going to work in the New Normal,” Jason said.

Fully committed to their new model, Ronnie and Jason have built cash reserves to cover their federal loans, and IVSF Catering not only became profitable, but evolved into one of the cornerstones of COVID-response hot meal delivery in the Bay Area – a full service operation that prepares, plates, packs, and fulfills meal delivery orders across the region.

But that’s not where the story ends. Because Ronnie and Jason see more potential for aid intrinsically tied to their new way of operating, they are doubling down on community service as a primary way to do business.

“We hit a point where we have reserves to pay back our loans and we had re-established a pretty good position, so we said: ‘Hey, how do we help our fellow restaurateurs who are still struggling, and feed those who are still at risk?’ Sure, we are currently seeing the pandemic slow down slightly – but the need for hot meals has never gone away. In fact, funding for those programs has been evaporating. So we committed to donate $1500 a week to Kultivate Labs and #FilipinosFeedtheFrontlines, because we wanted to help out businesses like ours,” Jason said.

“The biggest need is to encourage other businesses to give back – whether it’s a megarich individual like Jeff Bezos, or a local small business owner who’s got some surplus cash in the bank. The hard reality is that programs like Filipinos Feed the Frontlines aren’t going to be sustainable unless people like us take it upon ourselves to invest in their communities. We just want to inspire others to be like, ‘Hey, let’s give what we can,’” Ronnie said.

Ronnie and Jason prepping in South City for IVSF Kitchen.

Firmly locked in to their refreshed approach, the pair are set to launch a new Hot Chicken concept, Love Burn with partners, Justin Isip and Christian Perez in the coming months, and have every intention of maintaining – if not expanding – their work around hot meal delivery and community work. Because although Ronnie and Jason look ahead to a future that resembles something like life pre-pandemic, they recognize that community happiness is central to the re-establishment of a New Normal – and they are proud to bear responsibility for their community’s well-being.

“Yes, we are thriving during COVID as an individual operation, but we also have a duty to work together to uplift our community of small business owners who might not be doing as well, because they are not going to make it if we don’t. We want to help create a cycle of giving that’s integrated into the ways our community works and does business,” Jason said.

“Our people deserve a sense of normalcy, and we want to make sure all our brothers and sisters are safe so that we can all come out of this stronger and we’re ready to face the new normalities around conducting business. And it starts locally. If we can inspire folks in LA to do the same thing, maybe then people in Chicago hear about it and start something of their own. It’s our way of trying to push larger-scale growth for BIPOC businesses owners and small business owners,” Ronnie said.

LEARN MORE ABOUT #FILIPINOSFEEDTHEFRONTLINES