Fitchburg businesses help provide meals after Little John’s halts contracts

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - Several Fitchburg businesses are offering a helping hand to seniors who need meals after a Dane County community kitchen was no longer able to take on the commitment.

Businesses in Fitchburg, including The Great Dane, Thirsty Goat, Benvenuto’s, Kwik Trip and Oasis Café have all agreed to offer hot meals for the next few weeks until a permanent solution is determined, the group explained. The businesses will cover nearly 70 meals per day through the senior center for those enrolled in Meals on Wheels and for people who eat at the Senior Center.

Thirsty Goat Assistant General Manager Alexis Kokenzie said they’re happy to help in any way they can.

“We just like giving back to the community, you know, helping out wherever we can,” Kokenzie said. “The Senior Center, you know we get a lot of people come in, especially from the senior living community behind us and there’s also the new apartments out there. So we always like seeing them in here. They’re a great crowd to have too.”

Little John’s revealed last week that it would be cutting down on contracts to provide meals to people with several community organizations due to high costs and a lack of a workspace.

Director of the Fitchburg Senior Center Jill McHone said the city was grateful for the generosity of the five businesses.

“I guess you could say the silver lining in the dark cloud is in the generosity of so many,” McHone said. “These businesses truly share our commitment to provide nutritious meals to those in need. We are forever grateful.”

The Senior Center added that the businesses would be reimbursed through Dane County, Fitchburg Senior Center funding and donations.

Little John’s Owner and Head Chef Dave Heide said last week that they have exhausted every possibility on getting a new place to get cooking. They’ll now have to scale back from around 16,000-17,000 meals a week to 3,000, ceasing the majority of the contracts they have and cutting a number of employees.

Click here to download the NBC15 News app or our NBC15 First Alert weather app.

Copyright 2023 WMTV. All rights reserved.