Spot Gourmet Burgers owner Josh Kim responds to the COVID-19 pandemic by giving back to communities in need

Children's Festival Special Features

If you’ve been to the Philadelphia Children’s Festival in recent years, you know the Spot Gourmet Burgers food cart, which serves up the best burgers, fries and hot dogs, hands-down. Spot Burgers is owned by Josh Kim, and his food cart is one of the most well-loved additions to the Festival. In fact, Spot (and Kim’s companion hot dog cart, Winky’s) quickly became the Annenberg Center’s official, exclusive food vendor of the Festival. While he opened an actual brick-and-mortar restaurant on Girard Avenue in 2016, Kim still continues going out to events and festivals because he loves the human and community connection that has always been part of his work.

When the pandemic shut down businesses across Philadelphia, it couldn’t have come at a worse time for Kim and Spot Burgers. “I had two options: panic, or try to find some resolve and keep moving forward.” With a restaurant full of food, employees he wanted to retain and the recognition that there were countless people across the city with no jobs and no food, Josh chose the latter option, taking a leap into the unknown and making the decision to feed anyone who came through the door who was hungry. “I found my resolve, my purpose, and people began to gravitate to what I was doing, to the hope and positivity we were serving up.” And that positivity paid off, with supporters coming forward on their own to donate, or more accurately, buy meals for others, sometimes in great quantity. Read the full story in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Now, when you visit Spot's website, the first thing that greets you is a pop-up window, and not one of the now-ubiquitous pop-ups that tell you the establishment is closed due to COVID-19. Instead, the message that greets you reads “If you have small children and need help, please stop by for a meal. If you lost your job due to the current pandemic, please come by and let us feed you. As God has granted me much grace. I shall champion my brothers and sisters in their time of need.”

We honor Kim for his compassion, caring and courage, and invite our followers to patronize Spot Burgers if you live in the Brewerytown area, donate to help him continue feeding those who are hungry, or share his message through whatever channels you can: “Please tell anyone who is hungry to come to Spot Burgers and we will feed them. Just come in—all are welcome.”