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Kelowna  

Come and get it!

An alternative to food trucks is rolling out in Kelowna.

Donnie Ungaro is the tattooed "chef executive officer" at Culinary Ink - the local business bringing food bikes to Kelowna. 

Culinary Ink is partnering with Soles4Souls, Kelowna Community Foodbank and Metro Central to increase revenue for non-profits and offering training and work experience to marginalized people. 

"The idea is self sufficiency for non profits, as well as job creation," said Ungaro. 

Each bike is purchased by a non-profit organization and is operated by their membership. 

Bikes run for $12,000 and offer a way for organizations to raise money, easing their reliance on grants and donations. 

Ungaro gets a royalty from each bike and intends to donate 20 per cent of his net profits back into charities. 

Thursday was the unveiling of the first food bike in Kelowna, and two more will be launched next week.

Ungaro hopes to have six bikes by March of 2015. After that, he hopes to go across the country.

"We have interest in Vernon, Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto already," he said. The food bike season currently will run from March to November, but they are working on ways to extend it. 

Each bike is a fully licensed mobile kitchen, including hot water and fridges.

The menu has a comfort food feel and will offer two $10 options everyday. Today is 'fat food Friday' and pulled pork and kimchi grilled cheese or mac 'n cheese pulled pork are on offer. Everything comes with their signature garlic butter popcorn. 

David Purdon at the Kelowna Community Foodbank said this social enterprise brings blended value to their organization. It raises money for the Foodbank and helps their membership.

"This is a new direction for the Foodbank and we're very excited about it," he said. "The operators will be members of our various client groups. The project is providing jobs, skills training, work experience, mentorship - there's so many upsides to this project." 



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