Servin’ Up Pizza and Love

The air in north Salina was filled with the sound of laughter, and the smell of hot pizza when the Little Caesars Love Kitchen rolled into town late Friday morning. The 18-wheel tractor-trailer, containing a fully equipped kitchen, was ready to serve several hundred meals.

Salina Little Caesars owner Tom Perrin and a group of volunteers were prepared to serve a free lunch from inside the one-of-a-kind mobile kitchen for several hundred people.

Perrin tells KSAL News that “we are really privileged to have the love kitchen come to town, it’s really a national program with local partners.” He says that the Love Kitchen was created to provide quality meals for people who need them.

The purpose of the Little Caesars Love Kitchen is very simple. To feed hungry people, no matter the location or situation. It stops everywhere from homeless shelters, to soup kitchens, to disaster scenes. Friday, it was at the Salina Salvation Army.

The Little Caesars Love Kitchen has fed more than three million people in 48 states and four Canadian provinces. It has also responded to disasters such as tornadoes and hurricanes, as well as the site of the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and the 1995 Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City. Established by Little Caesars in 1985, the Love Kitchen exemplifies Little Caesars strong tradition of giving back to America’s communities.

Perrin says “if we were ever so unfortunate to have a tornado hit Salina, one of the first calls we would make is to the love kitchen.”

Local Little Caesars franchise owners and company regional offices donate all food and labor costs for the Love Kitchen servings. An estimated 50,000 Little Caesars franchise owners and employees have contributed their time and financial support over the years to support the program in their local communities.

Perrin, his wife Jennifer, their children, and several store employees provided the manpower Friday. He also offered a big thank you to Mahaska, who provided the drinks.

Perrin concluded that while it was important for them to be there on Friday, it was also “really a blast for the staff” to be there as well.

 

A line forms outside the Little Caesars Love Kitchen.

A line forms outside the Little Caesars Love Kitchen.