Fun Biz Concessions helps local organizations conquer food insecurity one turkey leg at a time

CHEYENNE — Due to facing food insecurity when he was a child, Nate Janousek, the owner of Fun Biz Concessions, has made it his mission to donate leftover fair food to local nonprofits and organizations after Cheyenne Frontier Days.

On Monday morning, several different organizations gathered behind the grandstands at Frontier Park to take part in Janousek’s food donations. Volunteers brought their trucks and cars and spent the first part of their day loading up boxes of leftover fair food to use for their respective missions.

Fun Biz Concessions is a traveling food company. Janousek said it covers concessions at fairs and festivals all over the United States, and he always donates the leftovers. Fun Biz has been contracted with CFD since 2020.

Because their first year was interrupted by COVID-19, Janousek said the company set up a contactless drive-thru at Frontier Park where people could come and grab their favorite fair foods.

“It was a nice thing during COVID to give people a taste of all their favorite foods that they had been missing out on,” Janousek said. “The response was insane.”

This year was Janousek’s fourth year donating leftover Fun Biz food to local organizations after CFD. When he first started, the only local contact he had was Laramie County Senior Services. He said Jennie Gordon, Wyoming’s first lady, approached him later about the Wyoming Hunger Initiative to connect him with more people.

Gordon started WHI in her office in 2019, she said. It is an organization that aims to end hunger in all of Wyoming through several different programs they offer. Gordon was able to reach many organizations and invite them to utilize the Fun Biz donations due to her extensive network of contacts.

Some of the organizations in attendance were Element Church, Meals on Wheels, Laramie County Senior Services, Veterans’ Rock, the Laramie County Community College food pantry and St. Joseph’s Food Pantry.

“Being able to partner with (WHI), and then utilize their network of contacts to do these donations, has massively helped us increase our reach to the community out here,” Janousek said.

Because Janousek grew up with some food insecurity, he said it’s important to him to help other families stay fed. So even though there are non-perishable foods he could reuse, he said he’d rather donate it.

On top of donating the leftovers, Janousek has also made an impact on ending hunger in Wyoming through donating $1 to WHI for every corndog Fun Biz sells during the last Saturday of CFD. Janousek was able to raise $12,500 that WHI will use to keep supporting the local hunger organizations.

“Raising children in America is hard, and not every family has loads of expendable income,” Janousek said. “When I was a kid, I remember there was a time when food was short, money was tight. Being in the position I’m in now, my wife and I always try to make a point of donating food to local organizations wherever we go. We just don’t believe that people in this country should go hungry.”

Rhianna Brand, the events and program coordinator for Meals on Wheels, said this is Meals on Wheels’ second year taking donations from Janousek. They deliver about 500 meals per day, and the donated foods Brand gathered will likely be used up within the next month, she said.

“We love that no food goes to waste,” Brand said. “We love to be a recipient at Meals on Wheels of Cheyenne. … I mean, the fresh corn, they’re giving us prime rib — that’s such a treat for our clients. We’re really grateful to Nate, Fun Biz, Jennie Gordon for setting all of this up. It’s such a beautiful thing.”