Today we’d like to introduce you to James Lee, Sharon Lee.
We were both born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and moved to Marietta, GA in October 1999. We have been married for 23 years. The mastermind, visionary and Head Chef is James Lee. James learned the art of cooking as a child. He would watch his grandmothers as they prepared family dinners and he was rather inquisitive about the ingredients used in the meals.
It was during his early childhood that he developed a passion for cooking, by the age of 12 he was the cook for the family. By the time he reached adulthood, he understood the basics of creating dishes and knew that was the career path he wanted to explore. He continued to be a student of the restaurant industry and had several mentors along with the way. One of his greatest joys comes from being able to see his childhood dream come to fruition as an entrepreneur in the food industry.
Sharon is the other integral piece making certain the restaurant functions as smoothly as possible. She is the fuel that keeps both her husband the business operating as smoothly as possible.
We began mobile food vending in 2014, attending festivals along the outskirts of Atlanta to get a feel for the industry and also test the market for our dishes. We began our journey with faith, one tent, checkered picnic tablecloths, and a deep fryer. We had to manually lift equipment and place it on the bed of the truck. We continued to do mobile vending and learn more about the food industry and what worked well and the areas we needed to improve.
Fast forward to the present, God opened the door for us to have the opportunity to operate a take-out restaurant inside a Chevron gas station. James is the only full-time employee and family and friends assist us during our operating hours. The community has fully embraced us and their support has been overwhelming.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Some of the challenges we have faced along the way have been mainly been by trial and error. We have reached out to many in this industry to share knowledge with us and most have been unwilling. In order to overcome that struggle, we just began seeking knowledge from those who were willing to share and provide direction. The other challenges we faced not having a brick and mortar is local restaurants would complain about us setting up serving meals because it took away from their business. We have met some great people along this journey and their knowledge has been beneficial to where we are now. When we moved inside the store in September 2018 we were opened Wednesday – Saturday, business was extremely slow and that’s when the doubt was creeping in about whether or not this was the right location. Customers would come inside the store and not look our way. By October 2018 we saw a glimmer of hope, but by November 2018 we knew we were in the right place.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Lee’s Southern Kitchen story. Tell us more about the business.
We are a husband and wife team that are destined to build our business and leave a legacy for our children and grandchildren. We specialize in Louisiana and Cajun cooking. We are known for our fried catfish, fried shrimp, crawfish bread, and boudin balls. We are most proud of the fact that we stepped out and faith and followed our dream of becoming entrepreneurs. James was a truck driver for over 21 years and two years ago he was able to leave his job as a truck driver and focus on sharpening his skills in the kitchen. As a company, we pride ourselves on providing the highest quality customer service around. Our goal is to make every customer feel like family each and every visit. One thing that sets us apart from others is our attitude and willingness to go the extra mile. We have learned in this business that we are not here to please everyone but we will be courteous to all those we encounter. We go the extra mile to ensure the experience is a pleasant one, we get to know our customers as they are one of the many heartbeats of our business.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
We do not rely on luck, we operate based on faith. Luck had nothing to do with James leaving his job because we did not have a commercial kitchen to operate in. We took the approach that God has His hand in our business and that He would continue to provide the resources and opportunities for us to excel. He has been faithful in doing just that. We are in a prime location in Paulding County, there is maybe one restaurant in Paulding that serves fried catfish, but none compares to the menu we offer. Our menu ranges from fried seafood to collard greens, red beans and rice, pastas, and jambalaya to name a few.
Pricing:
- Menu Prices range from $5 – $18
Contact Info:
- Address: 43 Dallas Nebo Road, Dallas, GA 30157
- Website: https://www.leessouthernkitchen.com/home
- Phone: 470-259-8361
- Email: leeshotspot@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leessouthernkitchen/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leeshotspot/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/lees-southern-kitchen-dallas
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