Tacos 4 Life, a fast-casual taco restaurant with 21 locations in six states across the southeastern U.S., announced it has officially donated 25 million meals to its nonprofit partner, Feed My Starving Children (FMSC). In 2009, Tacos 4 Life founders Austin and Ashton Samuelson discovered that more than 18,000 children die worldwide each day due to hunger-related causes. Those 18,000 children were the motivation that led the young couple to create a restaurant concept with a primary mission to give back to communities on a global scale.
Since Tacos 4 Life’s inception in 2014, the Arkansas-grown brand has donated $0.24 per taco, salad, rice bowl, nacho, or quesadilla sold, the equivalent of one meal for a child in need, to Feed My Starving Children.
Toney Livingston, owner of Texarkana’s Tacos 4 Life location said, “My wife Sandy and I are forever grateful to everyone in Texarkana and the surrounding communities for partnering to help reach 25 million meals! You all are a vital part of feeding kids all over the world. We look forward to racing to 50 million, and hopefully reaching Texarkana’s 1 million mark by the end of this year!”
FMSC distributes meals to an exceptional network of missions and humanitarian organizations in over 70 countries around the world. Meals are donated free of cost, allowing partners to focus the majority of their time and resources on their schools, places of worship, community centers, orphanages, health clinics and more, to break the cycle of poverty. FMSC’s original scientifically crafted food formula, MannaPack® Rice meals, are an excellent source of protein, carbohydrates, and key nutrients culturally acceptable worldwide for anyone over the age of one. With the Tacos 4 Life “Meal 4 Meal” program, one meal is donated for each meal sold in its restaurants.
“We are incredibly honored to share the news that in just over eight years, we’ve provided a meal for 25 million children worldwide,” said Austin Samuelson, co-founder of Tacos 4 Life. “Each meal we raise brings us one step closer to fulfilling our mission of ending starvation, and we wouldn’t have achieved this significant milestone without the help of our dedicated franchise partners and valued guests.”
On average, each Tacos 4 Life location raises 1,000 meals per day. Tacos 4 Life team members and guests are also afforded the opportunity to volunteer and pack the meals raised in each of its restaurants at locally organized MobilePack events. FMSC provides the MannaPack ingredients and packaging materials equivalent to the total amount of meals raised in a local Tacos 4 Life market, where volunteers then spend the day assembling the meals and boxes for distribution.
“Tacos 4 Life continues to go above and beyond in their mission to feed starving children”, says Andy Carr, VP of Development and Marketing for Feed My Starving Children. “Throughout the years, Austin and Ashton have never lost sight of their mission to make a difference in the lives of so many children around the world. They truly care about the legacy they’re creating, and we’re blessed to celebrate our partnership with Tacos 4 Life in reaching a milestone of 25 million donated meals.”
The Tacos 4 Life team is actively expanding its fast-casual restaurant network through franchisee partnerships to broaden its mission of feeding starving children around the world. For more information on how you can become a franchisee or investor in support of this mission, please visit the Tacos 4 Life website.
About Tacos 4 Life
At Tacos 4 Life, we believe every child deserves to run, grow and play without feeling the agony of hunger. In 2009, co-founders Austin and Ashton Samuelson learned that more than 18,000 children die worldwide each day due to hunger-related causes. Austin and Ashton saw world hunger as a solvable problem, leading them to develop a brand where guests come together to create a world where starvation no longer exists.
In 2014 Tacos 4 Life opened its first location in Conway, AR. For every taco, salad, quesadilla, rice bowl, or nachos that are sold, 24 cents is donated to Feed My Starving Children (FMSC), Tacos 4 Life’s nonprofit partner. Since 2014, Tacos 4 Life has expanded to new states and communities across the country. As the brand continues to grow, the mission to end world hunger remains the same, and the guests continue to make it possible.
Tacos 4 Life is located in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, and Tennessee. To learn more, visit the Tacos 4 Life website and connect with Tacos 4 Life on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
