Today is her 42nd birthday and Labor Day, and she had originally planned to be off. But after thinking about how much people enjoy visiting Alicia’s Coffee shop in downtown Birmingham, she decided to be open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Alicia’s Coffee is located at the A.G. Gaston Motel in downtown Birmingham. They offer more than 60 flavors of beverages, breakfast and lunch. This is their Harlem Renaissance, which is made with almond syrup, vanilla syrup, their cold brew, cane sugar, cold foam and topped with a dash of cinnamon. (Photo by Chanda Temple)
“Sometimes, it goes back to ‘What are you willing to sacrifice?’ ” Naimah said. “Are you willing to sacrifice being off on a holiday and just being at home? Or, can you get up, get out in the community and open up the doors?”
“You have to be able to make a sacrifice to get the things you want in life.”
Roc Harrell, left, and Naimah Elmore are the co-owners of Alicia’s Coffee. (Photo by Chanda Temple)
The way a friend recently raved about her orders from Mama Suz’s Fried Pies in Pelham, AL, I knew it was a place I needed to visit.
“I had the apple fried pie, and it reminded me of how my grandmama made pies for us,” said Deirdre Heard of Tallapoosa County in central Alabama. “And after I left the place, I called my grandmama and told her about it. I saved her half of my pie, drove all the way back to Tallapoosa County and gave it to her. She gave it a thumbs up. And she’s 91.”
“For her to give it the thumbs up, that spoke volumes,” Deirdre said.
Mama Suz’s Fried Apple Pies come in savory and sweet options. Every pie is topped with a golden, flaky heart in the crust. (Photo by Chanda Temple)
Mama Suz’s also sells empanadas filled with everything from breakfast fixings to lunch options. A fan of Mexican food, Deirdre’s eyes were drawn to the menu’s “Mama’s Empanada,” which features pollo asada, chicken, dirty rice, refried beans and cheese.
Like the dessert fried pies, the empanadas are made to order and come out hot, golden and flaky.
“It brought back good memories from high school when I went to Mexico as a foreign exchange student. I love good savory food, and this was good,” Deirdre said. “It was like a one stop shop.”
At Mama Suz’s, flavor flows through the building, right along with faith and family.
In December 2024, Party City, announced it was closing after being in business for nearly 40 years. The news hit hard for not only consumers, but also entrepreneurs such as Tanesha Sims-Summers.
As the co-owner of Naughty But Nice Kettle Corn Co., a Birmingham-based business she built from scratch, Tanesha couldn’t help but take the news personally. Watching a giant fall after decades of success made her pause and reflect. What went wrong for them? And, more importantly, could her own business face the same fate?
Tanesha Sims-Summers started Naughty But Nice Kettle Corn Co. in 2014 with three flavors. Today, she has eight flavors, a storefront and a processing space. She runs the business with her husband, Clem Summers. (Photo Source: Tanesha Sims-Summers)
Then, she asked herself the hard questions: Was she running her own business based on her feelings or based on the numbers.
But the faith, drive and passion within her told her she was on the right path and to keep going.
“I’m just not at that point where I’m ready to throw in the towel, even at the roughest moment because it’s a burning desire within me to live out the purpose for this business,” she said. “That’s why we say, ‘Poppin’ with a purpose. Sweeter together.’ ”
It’s 1 p.m. on the afternoon of Jan. 4, and Denise Peterson is wearing a T-shirt that says, “Imma Overcomer.”
It’s a meaningful mantra for a woman who is moving Yo Mama’s, a 10-year-old restaurant she runs with her daughter, Crystal, into a new and larger space in downtown Birmingham.
Crystal Peterson, left, and Denise Peterson are a daughter-mother duo who started Yo Mama’s in Birmingham, AL in November 2014. (Photo by Chanda Temple)
Walking through the new 5,500-plus square foot space, which is a huge shift from the 1,300 square foot original location, Denise admits that one thing she had to overcome was the fear of growth.
“You can get content in where you are and end up staying there, but not be where God wants you to be because of fear,” said Denise, 68. “So, I had to overcome that part of it to say, ‘OK, we can make this happen.’ ”
“In this environment, there can be a lot of things that can come against you, but when you make it through it, you overcome it,” said Denise, a Birmingham native. “If it doesn’t take you down, then you are all right.”
The chicken and waffles at Yo Mama’s has received high praise through the years. In 2024, Southern Living said it was one of the top 35 restaurants to visit in Birmingham, AL. (Photo by Chanda Temple)
For years, Reatta Myers-Hall worked to help other companies thrive.
Whenever she saw areas that needed improvements, she offered suggestions. But she and her ideas were ignored. A lot.
Although Reatta was brokenhearted, she was never broken over what happened, for she knew that one day someone would listen.
Slutty Vegan offers four different types of plant-based burgers. The Fussy Hussy burger, pictured, comes with pickles, onions, tomatoes lettuce, a special sauce, an Impossible burger patty on a Hawaiian bun. In 2023, Yelp rated Slutty Vegan as No. 3 on its list of “Top 100 Burgers in America.’’ (Photo source: Slutty Vegan)
That day finally came in the fall of 2024 when Pinky Cole, the founder of the multi-million dollar Slutty Vegan brand, asked Reatta if she would like to own and operate Alabama’s only Slutty Vegan store as a franchise. Since Reatta already had a history of running the store as its manager when it first opened in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Birmingham in August 2022, she jumped at the chance. And Pinky gave her the store, which is located at 7 – 55th Place South.
“What happened at those other businesses never made me want to quit,’’ Reatta said. “I just tucked (the ideas) in my back pocket, and now I’m pulling them out.”
Today, Reatta is rolling out new value meals and products for Birmingham Slutty Vegan consumers, along with the long-cherished plant-based burgers on vegan Hawaiian buns, vegan desserts and fries that Pinky first started selling when she launched the Slutty Vegan burger stands in 2018 in Atlanta. There are now 12 Slutty Vegan locations in Georgia, New York ,Texas, Alabama and Maryland. Birmingham still has the only Alabama location.
“A lot of people don’t like to accept the nos that they get, and they get discouraged. But that should be fuel for you to keep going on and pressing to get to that yes,’’ Reatta said. “You have all the keys. You just have to create your own door.’’
In July 2023, Justin Jones received the call no one really wants to get: Your job has ended.
Saddened over losing his good-paying job in the steel industry, Justin nervously broke the news to his wife. But Charity Jones saw the loss as more of a gain.
“I said, ‘Well, congratulations! You always wanted to work for yourself, and this is your opportunity,’ ” Charity recalled.
Stunned by Charity’s response at first, Justin knew she had a point. So, he followed his heart and started making the sweet potato pies that so many of their relatives had already come to love. Meanwhile, Charity started scheduling Justin to sell pies at as many farmers markets and events as possible. By August 2023, Sweet Daddy’s Sweet Potato Pies was selling out every weekend.
Sweet Daddy’s Sweet Potato Pies is offering a holiday bake sale Dec. 19 – 22, 2024. Orders can be picked up on Dec. 23, 2024 at noon at Red Cat Coffee House. See details at the end of this story for ordering. (By Chanda Temple)
“Immediately, I felt in my soul that that was the best thing for my husband,” Charity said of Justin making pies full time. “I believed in him. I believed in our product.”
The two are co-owners of Sweet Daddy’s Sweet Potato Pies, which are made in a commissary kitchen in Hoover, AL and sold across metro-Birmingham. Their menu includes sweet potato pie, apple pie, peach cobbler, pecan pie and a gluten-free sweet potato pie.
They also sell mini pies, which is their top seller. They recently delivered 400 mini pies to an organization looking to distribute them for the holidays.
Charity and Justin Jones started Sweet Daddy’s Sweet Potato Pies in fall 2023. They call him, “Sweet Daddy” and call her, “Sweet Mama.” (Photo by Chanda Temple)
“Just to see this grow, it lets me know that my belief in what we are doing is right. I can only imagine next year,” Charity said.
People’s postures shifted and their eyes widened every time a dish by Aniyah Brown hit the table.
Perhaps it was the plump shrimp bathed in warm tones of coconut curry sauce. Or maybe it was the roasted chickpeas nestled against butternut squash and peppers in a satisfying sauce. Then again, it could have been the twice-fried chicken, accented with chopped mango and green sprigs.
Each entree was bright and bold, making you feel as though you’d found gold at the end of the rainbow.
But in reality, it was Aniyah’s vision of what a supper club dinner should be: a treasure you didn’t know you needed but one you were lucky you found.
Kenya Pickens graduated from culinary school in 2007 with dreams of dishing out delicious dinners.
But after working at a country club for only a few months, she lost her job. Devastated, she thumbed through the Yellow Pages, calling businesses and asking, “Are you hiring?”
More than a week later, those calls led to two job offers: being a server at a steakhouse and working at a bakery. She took both. Although Kenya had not studied baking, she settled in to learn a new skill.
Eventually, she became so good at baking, that she stepped out on faith and left the bakery in 2008 to sell her own desserts. She made five cakes a week and sold slices at barber shops, beauty shops and a discount meat market. In 2015, she started selling at Birmingham-area farmers markets while she still worked full-time jobs in various industries. Her days were long and her weekends were longer. But she knew that one day, her dedication would pay off.
Kenya Pickens opened Velvet Kake bakery in 2021 in Clay, AL, selling cakes, cookies and more. She’s grown her following to include fans of traditional and vegan desserts. (Photo Source: Kenya Pickens)
On Dec. 1, 2021, she moved into her own storefront, Velvet Kake, in Clay, Ala. and became a full-time baker. (She got the name because she sells so many red velvet cakes. Her mother, Evelyn Sherard, works in the bakery with her.)
Today, Kenya sells about 30 cakes a week.
“I should have given up a long time ago, but I kept going because I had something to prove,” said Kenya, 38.
Dre Foster and her father, Andre Craig, had always talked about owning a restaurant. But he died in 2016 before they could realize their dream. Today, Dre is pushing toward their goal as she works to open The Preservery Birmingham restaurant in the city’s Five Points South area. Pictured is Dre’s sweet potato cheesecake with toffee bits, maple bourbon syrup and maple mascarpone. On the right is her five spice duck with braised baby bok choy, a corn fritter cake and pickled watermelon radish. (Photos: Special)
Starting today, “Made for This” is my new series that highlights people answering the call to do what they were born to do. To be considered for a profile, please email me at chandatemple@gmail.com with details on why you were “made” for what you are doing today.
By Chanda Temple
Dre Foster and her dad often talked about running a restaurant. He loved to cook and so did she. So, in Dre’s mind, they’d be perfect partners after she retired one day.
But the dream of father and daughter running a business never happened. In 2015, Dre’s father, Andre Craig, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He passed the day after Thanksgiving 2016. He was 57.
Dre was devastated and left with a new look on life: Life is short and she could no longer ignore what had been eating at her all these years. She was made to run a restaurant.
