How Toups’ Meatery is feeding hundreds of NOLA kids this summer, and what keeps it going

A few customers at Toups’ Meatery were lingering over plates of confit chicken thighs and seafood couvillion near the end of a quiet summer lunch shift. At the back of the Cajun restaurant, however, things were just revving up for Toups’ Family Meal.

That’s the name for a community feeding effort, and now the nonprofit newly formed around it. It regularly transforms this Mid-City restaurant into a hub of frenetic, organized benevolence, one that’s already stunning in scope for a small business to marshal, and one that could grow further as it draws more support.

On this Tuesday afternoon, restaurant kitchen staff were filling bags and boxes that would provide several days of meals for hundreds of families across the city. Others were shuttling them to the big, boxy refrigerator truck chugging away just outside the kitchen door, where chef Isaac Toups was directing the action with a voice booming down from high on the tailgate.

“This is renegade cooking,” the chef said. “People need help, and we’re going to cook for them. It’s just another day for Team Toups.”

His wife Amanda Toups was handing out delivery route sheets to volunteer drivers as they lined up for assignments, then filled their car trunks with packaged meals and set off.

In the boxes were chicken and dumplings and turkey sandwiches prepared by the restaurant staff, fresh fruit and breakfast cereal.

Putting it together and getting it to hungry households entails a logistical lift of spreadsheets and text blasts, volunteer lists and a delivery matrix that restaurant manager Molly McGuire Cooke created and now includes 45 charted routes around the city.

The purpose is to ensure local families have enough food at home during the summer, a time when food-insecure children who rely on meal programs through schools typically need more support. Bringing meals to their doors solves the transportation problem of people with young kids in tow trying to get to a central pick-up point.

The restaurant creates this distribution center each Tuesday and Friday, which together send off some 6,500 meals weekly to the 531 families who signed up for help at the outset. The number of meals per delivery is based on the number of kids in the family.

The longevity of the effort is based on community support.

All-in effort, funding

The grassroots program started in June, and the Toups’ hope to continue through late August when most schools resume. That will mean close to 60,000 meals provided over the summer.

That will take more money. The program has been costing roughly about $16,000 a week. Even as volunteer drivers arrive on a Tuesday, the Toups’ are often still trying to cover costs for the next round coming up on Friday.

Suppliers and purveyors have contributed (the refrigerator truck now on station at the restaurant is on loan from Inland Seafood, for instance). Individual donations have been coming in through the nonprofit (via toupsfamilymeal.com), and sometimes checks arrive by mail at the restaurant.

A big fundraiser for Toups’ Family Meal is slated for June 30 at the Broadside event venue (see details below).

Now Amanda Toups is fixated on rallying support from larger organizations and brands.

“We have the system, we have the people, we have the structure, what we need is the funding,” said Toups.

A decision, a response, a calling

Toups’ Meatery has found acclaim for its robust Cajun cooking and chef Isaac Toups himself has had star turns on many TV food competitions, like Bravo’s Top Chef. But at its heart, Toups’ Meatery is a small, family-run restaurant with all the competing demands of this challenging industry.

But the family here has made give-back part of its calling and part of its own civic hospitality culture.

The term “family meal” normally refers to a meal cooked up for restaurant staff before a shift. It took on new meaning at Toups’ Meatery in the pandemic. With many people out of work, Isaac Toups kept cooking for his staff and extended the offer to others. The restaurant dished out some 100,000 free meals before shifting back to normal operations.

Normal didn’t last for long though.

Earlier this year, Gov. Jeff Landry refused more than $70 million in federal aid for Louisiana residents through the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer Program, or Summer EBT. The federal program gives qualifying families $40 per month, per child (up to $120 per family) for support through the summer.

The Toups’ were among those aghast at the policy decision, and they determined to step up themselves with a Toups’ Family Meal summer campaign.

By May, the state changed course and opted into the federal program. Additional funds for groceries were added to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs, or SNAP, benefits cards in June.

That turnabout didn’t change the Toups Family Meal effort or the drive behind it. Amanda Toups said the experience of connecting with people who contacted them for help has galvanized the family’s desire to do more.

The underlying problem, she points out, is how close people live to hunger in New Orleans. That includes approximately 1 in 3 children in the city who are considered food insecure, according to Second Harvest Food Bank.

“We’re the greatest food city and that many New Orleanians are hungry? That’s unacceptable, it’s embarrassing,” she said. “We have this team and this process that can help. We’re going to use it for as long as we can.”

They have inspired others too.

Each Tuesday now, Mike Thibodeaux drives from his home in Covington to Toups’ Meatery to deliver meals around New Orleans. He brings his two young children along for some of these trips too.

“This is our community,” he said. “And this is a good way to show them how you help out in your community.”

Toups’ Meatery

845 N. Carrollton Ave., (504) 252-4999

Serving weekday lunch, weekend brunch and daily dinner, with happy hour 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Fundraiser for Toups’ Family Meal

When June 30, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Where: The Broadside, 600 N. Broad St.

What: Live music from the Lost Bayou Ramblers and the Creole String Beans; food for purchase from Joel’s Lobster Rolls, NOLA Cochon King and Southerns. Get tickets (suggested donation, $40) at toupsfamilymeal.com.

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