SoWa Food Truck Runs Kickstarter Campaign to Open Restaurant

One of Boston’s most popular food trucks, Mei Mei’s Street Kitchen, is opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Audubon Circle this summer. But the owners of this already non-traditional business have sourced funding for their new expansion in yet another non-traditional way: By launching a Kickstarter campaign.  Owners and siblings Andy, Margaret (Mei) & Irene Li opened their American-Chinese cuisine food truck in 2012, combining Andy’s dining management experience with Mei’s business acumen and Irene’s farming and cooking skills.  Their Kickstarter campaign set a goal of $ 28,000 on June 1st to help turn their brick-and-mortar restaurance space into a certified sustainable business by the Sustainable Business Network. The trio said funds raised will go to environmentally-friendly improvements such as energy-efficient lighting, infrastructure & kitchen equipment, low-flow plumbing, compost and recycling programs, reclaimed materials for our floors, walls and counters and other green intiatives.  And by Monday, June 24, one day before the last day of the campaign, they had raised $ 32,000 through more than 300 backers to accomplishing their goal.  “We’re so grateful for all your support, and we’re so excited to feed you in the restaurant and hook you up with your rewards!” they wrote in an update on their Kickstarter page.  The restaurant is scheduled to open by the end of the summer, on the corner of Park Drive and Buswell Street in Audubon Circle.  SOUTH END PATCH: Facebook | Twitter | E-mail Updates South End Patch

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