Jerk Machine in Lauderhill receives $35,200 rescue from TV star Marcus Lemonis

Two things have kept Catherine Malcolm’s ailing restaurant Jerk Machine alive this past month: a GoFundMe campaign, and a surprise rescue from reality TV star Marcus Lemonis.

Lemonis, the Miami-raised entrepreneur and host of CNBC reality show “The Profit,” called Malcolm on Dec. 31 to place the biggest order she’s ever seen: $35,200 for 4,400 Jerk Machine meals.

That money came with a mandate: Use it to feed the hungry.

“Our wounds are still deep but I feel as if my heart is dancing,” Malcolm said Monday. “I get to have my staff working again instead of standing there looking at me. We get to have food out to people who need a hot meal. What [Lemonis] is doing is sparking something we can keep passing on.”

Drowning in debt last month, Malcolm and her husband, chef-owner Desmond, started a $50,000 crowdfunding campaign called “Help Jerk Machine Get its Groove Back” to save her Caribbean eatery. As of Monday they’ve raised $24,277, and already spent $10,000 on back-owed rent plus late fees to their landlord at Lauderhill Mall. But utility bills keep mounting at the fast-food community hub known for heaping plates of simmering jerk chicken since 1989.

Lemonis called Malcolm personally after he’d watched a WSVN-Ch. 7 broadcast about Jerk Machine’s GoFundMe and its reputation as a charitable refuge for the hungry. But he wanted his $35,200 donation – what amounts to a massive catering order – to feed local charities.

“He was like, ‘It’s Marcus. Get on Zoom,’ and I knew who he was immediately,” Malcolm recalls. “We created something called the Jerk Rescue Meal. It’s not just for feeding the homeless but anyone who’s food insecure, like the elderly.”

So far, Malcolm and her employees have donated 2,500 Jerk Rescue Meals, which includes jerk chicken, rice, snow peas and steamed cabbage. On Monday, Malcolm distributed 550 meals to LifeNet4Families, a nonprofit in Fort Lauderdale, and on Wednesday will distribute another 250 meals to Aiding-AIDS, a Pembroke Pines charity. They’ll be finished handing out meals by mid-February. Malcolm says Jerk Machine buys the food and pays workers to make the meals, then invoices Lemonis’ nonprofit, Lemon-AID, after meals have been passed out.

“I’m working up the courage to call him again this week and say, ‘Marcus, we’re ready for round two,’ " Malcolm says with a laugh.

The money comes from Lemonis’ Plating Change Initiative, a partnership with chef Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen.

“My goal is to keep Main Street USA alive and well during the economic troubles that COVID-19 has brought to our small business owners,” Lemonis said in a statement. “I also want to thank the restaurants and staff that have unselfishly supported this initiative to feed our most vulnerable community members.”

Jerk Machine isn’t the only South Florida restaurant aided by Lemonis, who graduated from Miami’s Christopher Columbus High School and made his fortune as CEO of recreational-vehicle company Camping World. In November, the businessman bought a part-ownership stake in iconic Calle Ocho bar-nightclub Ball & Chain, intervening after the city of Miami ordered it closed for code violations.

“This is insanity. I’m getting involved,” Lemonis Tweeted Nov. 2 after the city revoked Ball & Chain’s certificate of occupancy. “Can’t lay off 100 people and act like it doesn’t matter. This is the city that I love and this place is history.”

Lemonis’ donation to Jerk Machine is hardly similar to other restaurants he bails out on basic cable. On CNBC’s “The Profit” the entrepreneur rescues struggling businesses by investing his own money, often taking a minority stake in the company. Malcolm says Lemonis isn’t buying the restaurant but his donation keeps Jerk Machine humming.

“We’re still alive,” Malcolm says. “We’re allowed to pay our rent on time and keep our community fed.”

Jerk Machine is open at 4261 NW 12th St., in Lauderhill, and at 317 SW Sixth St., in Fort Lauderdale. Call 754-779-7016 or go to JerkMachine.com.