Soon, with the support of local chefs, farmers, and other food community types (including Crooked Sky Farms and Fox Restaurant Concepts), The Joy Bus became The Joy Bus Diner, a Shea Boulevard restaurant (3375 East Shea Boulevard, to be exact) whose profits fund the food-delivery campaign. The organization’s board is a Who’s Who of local food professionals including Tracy Dempsey (Tracy Dempsey’s Originals), Gio Osso (Virtu Honest Craft), and Bernie Kantak (Citizen Public House, The Gladly).
That tony board was resistant when Caraway suggested a four-walls diner. “They were reminding me how hard it is to run a restaurant,” Caraway recalls. “And I was saying, ‘Yeah, but I know that. It’s all I’ve ever done.’”