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Food with a Twist: How to Eat and Give Back
July 2014
By Taylor Rawls
What’s better than a restaurant with delicious food that also gives back to the community? That is exactly what Jessica Bufford, the owner of Toast, the “New American Gastropub” located in Richmond, wants for her restaurant. Toast not only serves delicious food, including a gluten-free menu, but also hosts “Toast to RVA” days every Monday, where a local charity receives 10% of the food sales from that night. After opening Toast, Jessica was unable to volunteer and help out in the community as much as she had done previously, so she decided to turn her restaurant into an opportunity to raise money for charity. Toast and Estilo, another restaurant Jessica owns, raised over $25,000 this year. She also recently hosted a “Women in Richmond Dining Dinner,” that raised thousands for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
The food industry is generally male-dominated, but there are quite a number of women, especially in Richmond, who own their own restaurants. Jessica is one of these women and she says, “It used to be in the food industry, women were kind of just looked at as the hostesses or just the waitresses. I think it’s cool and I’m proud of how many women in Richmond own a restaurant.” For this reason, she wanted to host a dinner exclusively featuring female chefs. The dinner raised over $15,000 for LLS.
What’s better than a restaurant with delicious food that also gives back to the community? That is exactly what Jessica Bufford, the owner of Toast, the “New American Gastropub” located in Richmond, wants for her restaurant. Toast not only serves delicious food, including a gluten-free menu, but also hosts “Toast to RVA” days every Monday, where a local charity receives 10% of the food sales from that night. After opening Toast, Jessica was unable to volunteer and help out in the community as much as she had done previously, so she decided to turn her restaurant into an opportunity to raise money for charity. Toast and Estilo, another restaurant Jessica owns, raised over $25,000 this year. She also recently hosted a “Women in Richmond Dining Dinner,” that raised thousands for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
The food industry is generally male-dominated, but there are quite a number of women, especially in Richmond, who own their own restaurants. Jessica is one of these women and she says, “It used to be in the food industry, women were kind of just looked at as the hostesses or just the waitresses. I think it’s cool and I’m proud of how many women in Richmond own a restaurant.” For this reason, she wanted to host a dinner exclusively featuring female chefs. The dinner raised over $15,000 for LLS.
Jessica was a theater major in college and compares restaurants to the theatre: “You’ve got your audience and your set…is the restaurant…and your actors have a script and that’s kind of your servers.” There are many elements involved in both running a restaurant and presenting a play and all of those elements need to be on point for everything to run smoothly.
In addition to Toast and Estilo, Jessica owns one more restaurant, Dash Kitchen + Carry. Estilo serves food inspired by Central and South America and Jessica calls Dash Kitchen + Carry a “baby Toast.” Everything at Dash is made completely from scratch, including the ketchup! All three restaurants have gluten-free menus, with Estilo being completely gluten-free. Jessica is gluten-free herself, but she was not when Toast originally opened. “You have to be allergy sensitive. In this day and age, to have the max appeal…you have to be willing to do that.” There are many people with allergies, and Jessica makes sure that all of her customers are satisfied with their food, even if changes need to be made to accommodate their dietary restrictions.
In addition to Toast and Estilo, Jessica owns one more restaurant, Dash Kitchen + Carry. Estilo serves food inspired by Central and South America and Jessica calls Dash Kitchen + Carry a “baby Toast.” Everything at Dash is made completely from scratch, including the ketchup! All three restaurants have gluten-free menus, with Estilo being completely gluten-free. Jessica is gluten-free herself, but she was not when Toast originally opened. “You have to be allergy sensitive. In this day and age, to have the max appeal…you have to be willing to do that.” There are many people with allergies, and Jessica makes sure that all of her customers are satisfied with their food, even if changes need to be made to accommodate their dietary restrictions.
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Jessica’s husband, Josh, is her partner in the restaurant business and she claims that she would not be able to handle everything without him. They have one hundred employees within all three restaurants and Jessica says that “that’s one of the things that Josh is most proud of, the number of jobs we have created and how many people we employ.”
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Owning a restaurant is never an easy task, but Jessica makes it seem like a breeze. She will admit that owning three restaurants is much harder than owning just one, but she enjoys the challenges and adventures that always seem to come along. Jessica fell into the restaurant business almost by accident, starting out as a waitress and working her way up, but she would not have it any other way. She is dedicated to providing her patrons with both delicious food and a chance to give back.
