Manteca’s newest dining option is staging its soft opening Monday, Nov. 2, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Civic Center parking lot.
It might be a unique location to launch a culinary operation, but then again Mint Meadows is unique.
*There is no dining option quite like it in Manteca.
*It is making its debut as the inaugural culinary launchpad project sponsored by the City of Manteca.
*It is part of the city’s effort to not only generate more dining options the community hungers for but to help build the local economy, create new jobs, and to strengthen municipal revenue to help pay for day-to-day services.
*The city’s “end game” is to help give fledgling culinary entrepreneurs a boost with the goal of them establishing a brick and mortar location.
Mint Meadows — owned by Manteca resident and teacher Gigi Kaur — features an eclectic offering of desserts, bowls, meal preparation, fresh teas, and more.
The home grown concern — a slice of Manteca with three women entrepreneurs (one Hispanic, one Indian, and one Caucasian) — prevailed in a Shark Tank-style completion involving six other entries that was conducted last July.
As winners, they will get use of a city-supplied and fully equipped food truck trailer for a year or so plus received a $500 check from the Manteca Chamber of Commerce to help get their business off the ground.
For their presentation, Mint Meadows offered four bowls — Coastal Garden, Himalayan Harvest, Sol Valley, and Vineyard Grove.
There was also a healthy dessert options featuring cottage cream and others that were yogurt parfaits as well as fresh teas such as hibiscus.
The food truck launchpad program — a rarity for a city in California to offer — is a way of removing a big barrier to morph dreams into reality, which is startup costs.
The truck, that includes everything right down to a point of pay device, was acquired by the city using $50,000 in federal COVID relief funds.
The city bought it from a Lodi food truck operator that moved into their own brick and mortar restaurant based on their success in the food truck business.
The roughly year or so use of the food truck will allow Meadow Mint to save up toward going on their own.
And it’s not just the money that they will accumulate after covering expenses.
A year’s worth of profits and loss data is invaluable in securing a loan
Meadow Mints will be able to access all city events that feature food trucks in addition as well as use the food truck at day-to-day locations.
The goal is to do future competitions on a set rotation of a year or more to help kickstart even more culinary options for Manteca.
The city also has prepped its senior center kitchen to meet health department commissary kitchen standards that Meadow Mint will have access to 4 to 7 a.m. in the morning before center activities start.
Mint Meadows will be at the Mural Alley on Yosemite Avenue at Sycamore Avenue in downtown Manteca during the Veterans Day parade on Nov. 11.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
