Hello, I am Chef Jermaine Woodard the owner of Food Therapy, a mobile food trailer located in the heart of Rogers, AR. I had a vision for many years to own a food trailer that would provide a place for my entire family to work together and offer southern hospitality; it’s kind of our specialty. With Food Therapy, I have built just that! We make every effort to prioritize comfort foods based on our family recipes that include fried chicken wings, catfish and chips, shrimp and grits, and chicken and dumplings. Each mouth-watering dish is a reflection of my lifelong commitment to love and laughter around the dining room table surrounded by friends and family while eating the best that southern soul food has to offer. In my childhood, food was the thing that brought everyone together around the dinner table. Still today, my wife and I value having dinner around the table with our children, and we intentionally ensure that we gather at least 3 nights per week. I had a thriving career as a Culinary Specialist in the United States Navy, and after retiring in 2012, my dream to own a food trailer could start. I began by catering events for family and friends out of my own kitchen, and the word soon traveled. In 2017, I was led by God to move my family to Arkansas and little did I know that Northwest Arkansas would be the perfect market for launching a food trailer business. Here there is a significant market demand for mobile soul food on the streets of Bentonville, Rogers, and Centerton. Food Therapy blends fresh, rich, memorable meals that the whole family will love, and will provide therapy for the soul. My motto is we provide “a taste of heaven on earth.”
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Funded
A loan helped veteran-owned business man serve his southern cuisine to his community.
Jermaine's story
This loan is special because:
More about this loan
Business Description
Food Therapy has been built upon a growing market for fine mobile cuisine in Northwest Arkansas, a region of Arkansas boasting over 500,000 residents moving here from all over the world due to our THREE Fortune 500 companies located here! The food truck industry is a fast-growing market segment because of the significant focus on food quality, fresh ingredients, fast service, and extreme convenience for on-the-go busy working customers. I chose to start mobile because it provides the best opportunity to deliver soul food cuisine utilizing inventive recipes and fresh ingredients to a larger population, when they want it, where they want it. In the short months I have been open my business has thrived and been well received by my community! I am starting to see many, many repeat customers. All items are prepared to order in the food truck, using basic cooking, baking, frying, and food storage equipment. I prep the ingredients by hand in advance, typically during the morning of service or between lunch and early dinner service. All customer orders are prepared based on the precise specifications of the guest, utilizing the same passion for preparation and commitment to personalized service that has always marked family-style soul food cuisine the way I was raised. Food Therapy represents a dynamic blend of my primary loves: family and mouth-watering soul food. Each entrée is prepared to order in ten minutes or less. Whether it’s a fast meal on the go for the hungry lunch crowd or a take-home masterpiece for dinner.
What is the purpose of this loan?
Food Therapy would like to continue to grow and become a staple for soul food in the NWA community. Thus, I need funds to grow my location’s reputation and permanence by purchasing picnic tables, heaters, and tents to provide a more comfortable outdoor dining experience for my repeat customers. Secondly, with the changing fire code requirements, I will use funds to make some needed upgrades to the ventilation system in the trailer to meet the new fire code in Arkansas. Lastly, I will use funds to sustain operations in advance throughout the winter season when sales slowdown, and to be prepared for peak season here in the warm and beautiful spring and summer.
Loan details
Loan length:
Repayment schedule
Monthly: One repayment made per month
End of term: One repayment made at the end of the loan term
Irregular: Any other repayment schedule
To see a detailed repayment schedule for a specific loan, click the "Repayment schedule" link on the loan profile under "Loan details."
What is the disbursed date?
In the case of partner loans, many of our Lending Partners choose to disburse loan funds before the loan request is posted on Kiva. We allow pre-disbursal because it ensures that the funds reach the borrower as soon as they are needed. Loan funds from Kiva lenders then go to backfill that amount and as a lender you assume the risk of the loan. By doing this, our Lending Partners assume the risk that, if the loan isn't funded by lenders, they will have to fund the loan without any funds from Kiva.
If a partner loan is not pre-disbursed, it will be listed on Kiva with an expected "post-disbursed" date. If a post-disbursed loan is not funded on Kiva, there is a chance that the borrower may not receive their loan. Some Lending Partners choose to disburse loans with other sources of funding, while other partners don't have the resources available to fund loans without Kiva lenders' support. No direct loans will be disbursed unless they fully fundraise on Kiva.
Funding model
What does "Partner covers currency loss" mean & how could it affect my Kiva loans?
Potential for currency exchange loss is noted on every loan profile under the loan details:
"Yes" means the Lending Partner will cover any currency loss. Lenders will not bear losses due to currency fluctuation
"Partial" means that the Lending Partner has opted to cover losses only up to 10%. If the U.S. dollar appreciates more than 10% against the local currency, those losses will be passed onto lenders.
"No" means that the Lending Partner is not covering any currency losses and all losses will be passed onto lenders.
"N/A" means the Lending Partner disburses loans to borrowers in USD so their loans are not subject to any currency fluctuation.
Do Kiva borrowers pay any interest on their loans?
Our partners collect interest from borrowers because there are many operational expenses associated with microfinance in developing markets, especially in rural areas. Many of Kiva's Lending Partners also provide additional services alongside their loan products such as business training, financial literacy lessons, or health services.
Kiva will not partner with an organization that charges unreasonable interest rates, and we require Lending Partners to fully disclose their rates. In addition, we only partner with microfinance institutions and organizations that have a social mission to serve the poor, unbanked, and underserved.
There are some 0% interest loans on Kiva, including all direct loans in the United States. To learn more about the interest rates Kiva borrowers pay, you can review the "Average cost to borrower" field on a loan profile.
We also encourage you to read the following articles if you are interested in further educating yourself on the topic: Microfinance 101 (https://www.kiva.org/microfinance), Top 10 things to know about microfinance (https://www.kiva.org/blog/top-10-things-to-know-about-microfinance), Microfinance interest rates explained (https://www.kiva.org/blog/whats-up-with-microfinance-interest-rates)
What is a risk rating?
The Lending Partner risk rating reflects the risk of institutional default associated with each of Kiva’s Lending Partners. A 0.5-star rating means the organization has a relatively higher risk of institutional default, while a 5-star rating indicates the organization is at a relatively lower risk of default, based on Kiva's analysis and the available information displayed in the Lending Partner section of every loan. Lending Partners with the lowest credit tier undergo a lighter level of due diligence and do not receive a risk rating; instead, in places where a risk rating would normally appear, these partners are labeled as “Experimental.” For more information, see "What is an Experimental Lending Partner?"
Direct loans also do not receive a formal risk rating. Instead, these loans are approved through “social underwriting”, where trustworthiness is determined by friends & family lending a portion of the loan request, or by a Kiva approved Trustee vouching for the borrower. Direct loans will appear as "Unrated" and lenders should always assume these loans represent the highest level of repayment risk on Kiva.
How are loans facilitated?
Kiva loans are facilitated through 2 models, partner and direct, that enable us to reach the greatest number of people around the world.
For partner loans, borrowers apply to a local Lending Partner, which manages the loan on the ground. Lending Partners are responsible for screening borrowers, disbursing loans, posting borrowers to the Kiva website for funding, collecting repayments and otherwise administering Kiva loans on the ground to borrowers.
For direct loans, borrowers apply through the Kiva website and may or may not be endorsed by a Trustee. Unlike Lending Partners, Trustees don't handle any financial transactions or have any duty to repay loans on behalf of their borrowers. Instead, Trustees take the role of providing support and business advice to their borrowers throughout the term of the loan.
More information about successive and concurrent loans
Most borrowers take out loans consecutively, meaning that they receive a second loan after having repaid the first. However, sometimes our Lending Partners give out concurrent loans, allowing borrowers to take out one primary loan and a secondary "add-on" loan along with it. These additional loans are typically smaller than the borrower's primary loan and serve a different purpose. We trust our partners to determine whether a borrower has the means to be able to repay a successive or concurrent loan.
About Food Therapy, LLC
Lenders and lending teams
Country: United States
Trustee: StartupJunkie.org
What are Trustee tiers?
For for more information about Trustee tiers, visit: kivaushub.org/trustee-tiers
Why are you endorsing Jermaine?
Business Consultant Martha of the Startup Junkie Foundation has personally met with Jermaine and his wife concerning all aspects of Food Therapy's business performance so far this year, its future business plan and management goals, and she is impressed by the business' performance thus far and its future. Jermaine is highly qualified to run this business due to his business education and extensive food industry background and work experiences. He is an impressive entrepreneur, as is his wife in her own right, they both are respected in the community and have excellent personalities that resonate well in communities like ours that value and support local, family-run businesses. They operate as a team and are great parents as well involving their children in learning about this business and their mother's business as well (she owns a professional counseling practice in Bentonville, AR). Jermaine has acquired great knowledge about and contacts with the mobile food trucks and trailers industry and owners in Northwest Arkansas in recent years. The mobile food business sector here is a successful and growing business industry in this region with many, many such ventures launching here in the past 8 years. The most successful are those like Jermaine's which are ethnic or specialty foods enterprises run by local entrepreneurs. Jermaine is highly endorsed and recommended for this loan and expected to perform very well in the coming spring of 2021 when the COVID crisis passes and customers return even more to outdoor dining, which has become very popular here in the past few years. His trailer is very well apportioned, his plans for how to market his menu and the trailer's locations he has chosen have it positioned to have a successful season in 2021 and the years to come.
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Loan details
Loan length:
Repayment schedule
Monthly: One repayment made per month
End of term: One repayment made at the end of the loan term
Irregular: Any other repayment schedule
To see a detailed repayment schedule for a specific loan, click the "Repayment schedule" link on the loan profile under "Loan details."
What is the disbursed date?
In the case of partner loans, many of our Lending Partners choose to disburse loan funds before the loan request is posted on Kiva. We allow pre-disbursal because it ensures that the funds reach the borrower as soon as they are needed. Loan funds from Kiva lenders then go to backfill that amount and as a lender you assume the risk of the loan. By doing this, our Lending Partners assume the risk that, if the loan isn't funded by lenders, they will have to fund the loan without any funds from Kiva.
If a partner loan is not pre-disbursed, it will be listed on Kiva with an expected "post-disbursed" date. If a post-disbursed loan is not funded on Kiva, there is a chance that the borrower may not receive their loan. Some Lending Partners choose to disburse loans with other sources of funding, while other partners don't have the resources available to fund loans without Kiva lenders' support. No direct loans will be disbursed unless they fully fundraise on Kiva.
Funding model
What does "Partner covers currency loss" mean & how could it affect my Kiva loans?
Potential for currency exchange loss is noted on every loan profile under the loan details:
"Yes" means the Lending Partner will cover any currency loss. Lenders will not bear losses due to currency fluctuation
"Partial" means that the Lending Partner has opted to cover losses only up to 10%. If the U.S. dollar appreciates more than 10% against the local currency, those losses will be passed onto lenders.
"No" means that the Lending Partner is not covering any currency losses and all losses will be passed onto lenders.
"N/A" means the Lending Partner disburses loans to borrowers in USD so their loans are not subject to any currency fluctuation.
Do Kiva borrowers pay any interest on their loans?
Our partners collect interest from borrowers because there are many operational expenses associated with microfinance in developing markets, especially in rural areas. Many of Kiva's Lending Partners also provide additional services alongside their loan products such as business training, financial literacy lessons, or health services.
Kiva will not partner with an organization that charges unreasonable interest rates, and we require Lending Partners to fully disclose their rates. In addition, we only partner with microfinance institutions and organizations that have a social mission to serve the poor, unbanked, and underserved.
There are some 0% interest loans on Kiva, including all direct loans in the United States. To learn more about the interest rates Kiva borrowers pay, you can review the "Average cost to borrower" field on a loan profile.
We also encourage you to read the following articles if you are interested in further educating yourself on the topic: Microfinance 101 (https://www.kiva.org/microfinance), Top 10 things to know about microfinance (https://www.kiva.org/blog/top-10-things-to-know-about-microfinance), Microfinance interest rates explained (https://www.kiva.org/blog/whats-up-with-microfinance-interest-rates)
What is a risk rating?
The Lending Partner risk rating reflects the risk of institutional default associated with each of Kiva’s Lending Partners. A 0.5-star rating means the organization has a relatively higher risk of institutional default, while a 5-star rating indicates the organization is at a relatively lower risk of default, based on Kiva's analysis and the available information displayed in the Lending Partner section of every loan. Lending Partners with the lowest credit tier undergo a lighter level of due diligence and do not receive a risk rating; instead, in places where a risk rating would normally appear, these partners are labeled as “Experimental.” For more information, see "What is an Experimental Lending Partner?"
Direct loans also do not receive a formal risk rating. Instead, these loans are approved through “social underwriting”, where trustworthiness is determined by friends & family lending a portion of the loan request, or by a Kiva approved Trustee vouching for the borrower. Direct loans will appear as "Unrated" and lenders should always assume these loans represent the highest level of repayment risk on Kiva.
How are loans facilitated?
Kiva loans are facilitated through 2 models, partner and direct, that enable us to reach the greatest number of people around the world.
For partner loans, borrowers apply to a local Lending Partner, which manages the loan on the ground. Lending Partners are responsible for screening borrowers, disbursing loans, posting borrowers to the Kiva website for funding, collecting repayments and otherwise administering Kiva loans on the ground to borrowers.
For direct loans, borrowers apply through the Kiva website and may or may not be endorsed by a Trustee. Unlike Lending Partners, Trustees don't handle any financial transactions or have any duty to repay loans on behalf of their borrowers. Instead, Trustees take the role of providing support and business advice to their borrowers throughout the term of the loan.
More information about successive and concurrent loans
Most borrowers take out loans consecutively, meaning that they receive a second loan after having repaid the first. However, sometimes our Lending Partners give out concurrent loans, allowing borrowers to take out one primary loan and a secondary "add-on" loan along with it. These additional loans are typically smaller than the borrower's primary loan and serve a different purpose. We trust our partners to determine whether a borrower has the means to be able to repay a successive or concurrent loan.
Trustee: StartupJunkie.org
What are Trustee tiers?
For for more information about Trustee tiers, visit: kivaushub.org/trustee-tiers
Why are you endorsing Jermaine?
Business Consultant Martha of the Startup Junkie Foundation has personally met with Jermaine and his wife concerning all aspects of Food Therapy's business performance so far this year, its future business plan and management goals, and she is impressed by the business' performance thus far and its future. Jermaine is highly qualified to run this business due to his business education and extensive food industry background and work experiences. He is an impressive entrepreneur, as is his wife in her own right, they both are respected in the community and have excellent personalities that resonate well in communities like ours that value and support local, family-run businesses. They operate as a team and are great parents as well involving their children in learning about this business and their mother's business as well (she owns a professional counseling practice in Bentonville, AR). Jermaine has acquired great knowledge about and contacts with the mobile food trucks and trailers industry and owners in Northwest Arkansas in recent years. The mobile food business sector here is a successful and growing business industry in this region with many, many such ventures launching here in the past 8 years. The most successful are those like Jermaine's which are ethnic or specialty foods enterprises run by local entrepreneurs. Jermaine is highly endorsed and recommended for this loan and expected to perform very well in the coming spring of 2021 when the COVID crisis passes and customers return even more to outdoor dining, which has become very popular here in the past few years. His trailer is very well apportioned, his plans for how to market his menu and the trailer's locations he has chosen have it positioned to have a successful season in 2021 and the years to come.
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