Caroline Gitonga and her daughter, Tracy Mukami, are the owners of The African Soulfood restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia.
The restaurant mainly serves East Africa and West Africa cuisines.
Since it’s established, the restaurant has attracted customers from various backgrounds, including Americans, Africans and Caucasians.
The African Soulfood has also hosted among other top Kenyan celebrities Sauti Sol, Ferdinand Omanyala, Nameless and Otile Brown.
Here is their story as told by WoK.
In an interview with Chams Media, Caroline noted that she set up the restaurant after struggling to find Kenyan food in the city.
She also mentioned that she was encouraged to set up the restaurant by her friends who loved her food.
“Everywhere I went, I would make a tray of Kenyan food and carry it with me and people would loved the food
“I felt like that was what people wanted and realized that I needed to do more on that area,” Caroline stated.
Tracy on the other hand explained that they wanted to make a difference among their community and as African living in America.
“There’s a reason why we call ourselves the African Soulfood, we cook for the soul. We want to be able to remind you of the taste of home,” she said.
The restaurant has specialized in the West and East African cuisines including pilau, githeri, ugali, mokimo and fish.
The West African cuisines on their menu include suya, fufu, egusi, cassava leaves and redbone.
“Our biggest blessing is that we have a very big customer return trend. There’s no way you’ll come here once,” Tracy said.
The restaurant has been in operation for two years.
Caroline also that they do outside catering for events such as birthdays, church functions and graduations among others.
“I kept getting inquiries about fold from the Kenyan churches here and all the events that were happening. I felt like there was more for me to do in that area,” she explained.
Caroline attributed the success of her restaurant to the warm reception from the people in her community.
The story of Charles Kamau
As earlier reported on WoK, Kamau is the founder of Blessed Driving School located in Washington State in the United States.
He established the driving school after working as a driver instructor in Washington where he discovered a business opportunity.
By the time Kamau started his business, he had lost his job and he offered his services door-to-door before getting a physical office.
He worked as an instructor for a while before going solo, and eventually establishing his own driving school.
After months of putting in extra effort, he launched a physical office in Washington State in September 2022.
“I was looking for a way to cater to the community and in a particular instance, the opportunity presented itself. It has been my passion to begin a driving school so I’m grateful for the opportunity
“The youth turn 16 every single day and hence there is a need for a driving school that will equip them with the requisite skills needed to learn how to drive. That’s where we come in,” Kamau said during the launch.
Kamau also said that they have received many calls as kids turn 16 every day, and there is a huge market for people looking to know how to drive.
“I had just lost my job,and my wife was almost giving birth. God just opened that way and the rest is history
“”I used to have briefcase office so I used to go see people, from their apartments and at home but now here we are and now God has blessed us with Blessed Driving school,” he added.
