PR: Female Entrepreneur Opens Cafe & Grocer
Single mother to open Day La Soul Café
Located at 829-831 E. Warrington Ave., Day La Soul Café & Grocer will offer a fresh juice, smoothie, and herbal tea bar with a cafe style menu with a soulful spin offered by the Soul Bar. Fresh produce, refrigerated & frozen products and a local food product section featuring local artisans will be featured in the tastefully appointed New Orleans themed neighborhood eatery.
Menu items will be identified by the names of well known R & B, soul, Motown and other music Oldies. The décor will be influenced by southern motifs.
Coming soon will be adjacent Day La Soul Lounge, a creative hub for events hosted by Day and others which will art, music, poetry, fashion and education. Not only will Day La Soul empower the community with healthy food options but will employ & educate young people.
Day has received considerable support from various organizations including Urban Innovation 21, Hollymead Capital, Kiva Zip Pgh, Hilltop Alliance, Bridgeway Capital and Just Harvest.
Day, a 30 year old mother of five, attended Taylor Allerdice where she excelled academically and was a member of the cheerleading squad. Faced with many challenges growing up, her father, a high school dropout, was sent to prison for life without parole six months after her birth and died in SCI Pittsburgh in 2008. The imprisonment and death of her father was just the beginning of her many challenges.
“I became a teenage mother in 10th grade at age 14. My daughter’s birth made me feel college was impossible. After all nobody in my family had gone. So after graduation I left home at 17, got a job and worked hard to make sure my daughter would be well cared for”, said Day. Undeterred, day started her catering business in 2014 and has catered dozens of private and public events.
Day is the recipient of numerous awards and culinary honors. She was awarded grand prize in the 2016 Wing & Mac Smackdown for her unique wing entry and The Love Experience where she competed in her first Chef-off in a Sweet Potato Pie Contest winning the Peoples People’s Choice Award.
Day participated in the 2015 Juneteenth Celebration at Conflict Kitchen as one of several African American chefs. She was the recipient of a grant awarded by Urban Innovation 21 which was used to support her catering business. The Hill District CDC’s Business Leadership Academy for Social Transformation honored Day as member of the 2016 BLAST Cohort.
“Knowing there was nowhere in the city to access healthy soul food, food cooked without pork, without canned goods, limited frying, and a consciousness around what is being served to the public I decided to open a cafe where healthy food would be served”, she said.
Day La Soul Café and Grocer will also be offering several vegan and vegetarian options.