Serving more than barbecue
The Sentinel recognizes John River for desire to serve community.
John Rivers’ passion for barbecue was established as a child through weekly meals with his grandfather at a Jacksonville barbecue joint. It was later fueled by a hunger to present his wife Monica’s Texan relatives a choice piece of smoked brisket.
In his early 40s, that passion was buried under the work of running a large pharmaceutical company as president — the fulfillment of an objective he had set before himself in college.
“You might have a goal, but if your heart and your passion is somewhere different, it doesn’t matter quite frankly your status, your title, and it doesn’t matter how much money you’re making,” Rivers said recently during a podcast. “You’re not going to fill that hole until you step into your passion.”
A family in need awoke a passion that combined his love of barbecue with a wish to help his community.
The desire to serve Central Florida more than just pulled pork sandwiches and fried chicken has made Rivers a finalist for the Orlando Sentinel’s Central Floridian of the Year. As he grew local mainstay 4 Rivers Smokehouse, Rivers continued holding fundraisers to benefit underprivileged kids and dispensing grants through his 4R Foundation.
“You have to have a bigger purpose,” Rivers said. “It’s not just about the business. You have to use the business as a platform to do good in the community.”
4 Rivers Smokehouse wasn’t supposed to grow into the current 14-restaurant chain in Florida and Atlanta, however.
Rivers initially envisioned the notoriously tiny first location on Fairbanks Avenue to be a commissary for his burgeoning barbecue ministry. In 2005, Rivers felt called to help the family of Meghan Joyce, a young girl with cancer. The resulting barbecue fundraiser for 400-plus people inspired Rivers to continue.
Over the next four years, Rivers brought out the smoker any time a school or church needed a fundraiser. Two years into it, he decided it was time to move from his garage to a commissary — and to retire from the pharmaceutical industry.
“Sometimes you have to move yourself out of a wrong situation in order to allow yourself to get into the right situation,” Rivers said. “And the longer you cling onto something when you realize it’s wrong, be it a boyfriend or be it a job or situation you’re in, you just trap yourself there.
“You don’t allow yourself to find the right situation.”
Opening the commissary was its own struggle with construction and financial troubles, but it opened in 2009 with a takeout window soon furnished with a consistent line out the door. The desire for 4 Rivers Smokehouse’s barbecue led to locations in Winter Garden and Longwood opening in 2011, and the original Winter Park eatery moving down the street to a larger spot in 2012.
It also led to the establishment of the 4R Foundation in 2015. The nonprofit gave funds to 650 local organizations, non-profits and churches in 2018 alone.
Cows ‘n Cabs, 4R Restaurant Group’s signature annual charity event, began in 2012. It brought together some of Central Florida’s best chefs and restaurants for a fun evening that’s raised more than $525,000 for local charities.
About 3 years ago, John and Monica Rivers began researching and soul-searching for a project that would be more longlasting than themselves or their restaurants.
The number of children in Central Florida dealing with food insecurity caught their hearts. About 21 percent of local children are unsure where their next meal will come from, according to a Map the Meal Gap 2018 study recently released by Feeding America.
Through the resulting 4Roots Farm initiative, farms will be established at select local schools to provide fresh produce and an agriculture curriculum to those schools. Ocoee High School now has greenhouses and a processing plant, and Edgewater High School’s own greenhouse is under construction.
The largest piece of this project, the 4Roots Farm and Agriculture Center, will provide produce to select Orange County Public schools, 4 Rivers Smokehouses, and AdventHealth locations. Money made from the 4Roots Farm will be used toward developing agricultural curriculum, establishing more greenhouses at local high schools, and food desert areas in Central Florida.
The farm is still in the works and its location are still in the works. Rivers envisions a working farm with five different farming systems (hydroponics, aquaponics, traditional, vertical and permaculture), labs, a farmers market, an auditorium and processing and distribution center.
The 4R Foundation isn’t alone in this endeavor — AdventHealth, the City of Orlando, Dr. Phillips Charities, and the University of Florida IFAS Extension are partners as well.
“We’re just being the catalyst that’s bringing all of these like-minded organizations that want to take care of those kids, those people in our community who are hungry and just be able to feed them,” Rivers said. “It’s a great testament quite frankly of where we live that this many organizations have come together.”