Politician Bursts Bubble Of Jon Bon Jovi Pop-Up Food Kitchen ‘JBJ Soul Kitchen’

A New Jersey politician is giving love a bad name — he wants to boot a pop-up food kitchen opened by Jon Bon Jovi and wife Dorothea from the Ocean County public library in Toms River, N.J., where it serves meals to under privileged people.

The town’s mayor, Daniel Rodrick, warns that the eatery is livin’ on a prayer.

“We appreciate that Bon Jovi wants to feed people that are needy,” the not-in-my-backyard pol says. “It is not a restaurant. It is a soup kitchen that they put there for the homeless that they’re busing in. And the public library down a block from a school is not the appropriate place to bus homeless in from all over the state of New Jersey and other states.”

A county official denies that people are being bused into the town.

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The Jersey-born rocker, 63, and Dorothea own and operate a chainlet of JBJ Soul Kitchen restaurants across his home state. No prices are listed on the menu — customers pay what they can afford or volunteer their time to cover the cost of a meal. Others can donate money to pay for others’ food.

The restaurant recently served its 200,000th meal!

An insider tells Globe that the rocker is taking the controversy in stride. “Jon’s not going to dignify the mayor’s accusations with a response,” an insider says. “He knows he’s a lot more popular than the Toms River mayor, and the mayor may have just activated Jon’s huge fan base to boot him out next election.”

That may be easier said than done, however — Rodrick rode to the mayor’s chair in 2023 with 70 percent of the vote.