Post Type: ARTICLES
Born in Jamaica, I started cooking at a young age. At age fourteen, my family were exhilarated at my culinary skills when I prepared a well received meal for a major family occasion. This might not be significant in itself, but for the sixteen people present including adults and adolescents, it was a big deal. After that dinner, moat of my family and friends acknowledged openly that I had a natural talent for cooking.
As a young girl, cooking had become my passion and I enjoyed it more than any others tasks. Owning a catering service or restaurant was a dream that I had from way back in Jamaica. Serving large portions of food to people was always a major concern especially for the hard working men. Some family friends would express that they appreciated my cooking and serving them a “Lion Share.” That comment stayed with me and who would have thought that later on the birthing of my catering service would bear the name “Lionshare.”
During the festive holidays, everyone brought some form of food to family gatherings. Cooking became my favorite activity and I found myself becoming more passionate every time I was called upon to prepare family meals for various occasions. As I did, I became creative and oriented to consistency in the preparations. I later got more and more assignments to prepare meals for larger groups of people. I often would dine with a good friend of mine whose name was “Alahbuild”, who had graduated from a culinary school in Jamaica. He admired and enjoyed my natural culinary skills. We worked together and that afforded him the opportunity to taste my creations and we also exchanged our culinary offerings.
Our conversations led to many thoughts of owning and operating our own restaurants. One day, while simply looking for some good lunch for the day, we stopped at a small ‘soul food’ restaurant. While inside the restaurant, my friend recognized the owner as an old neighborhood friend. His nickname was was “Greatest”. During this meeting, we brought up the conversation of our childhood desires of opening a restaurant. As we talked, “Greatest” mentioned that he was looking for a partner and after a lengthy discussion I decided to go into business with “Greatest.”
We experienced early success by introducing delicacies such as good Southern and Jamaican dishes. Through that experience, we learned the business side of cooking and frankly speaking it was the best experience I encountered as a business owner. However, as with 60% of all restaurateurs, we ended up selling the business during the economic downfall.
Together with my friend and constant business associate, we continue to follow what I know God blessed me to love and do. Presently, I prepare meals for NYC Department of Corrections staff, Nurses and CNA’S in Hospitals and Nursing Facilities and some dedicated customers, who want good home cooked meals. I look forward to the day when everyone would have the opportunity not only to enjoy exotic meals to be prepared at “Lionshare” Restaurants across the world but also own “Lionshare Franchises.”
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