Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevin and Terrance Allen.
Kevin and Terrance, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
To begin my story, I have to go back to my childhood where I first got the passion for creating food. I was ten years old and we didn’t have cable back then, so I used to watch the local cooking shows with chef Justin Wilson, Julia child and then when we would upgrade to cable for a brief period ( about a month) and I would go on to watch Emerald Lagasse and Chef Bobby Flay on the food network and that felt like Christmas!
These culinary legends help shape my young mind and inspired me to want to become a chef. Emerald in particular inspired me to want to create a brand. I admired how he had created an empire from cooking and his products! My love for cooking stems from the ability to be able to bring people together from all different cultural backgrounds and creeds. Food to me is a universal love language that I wanted to harness and share with the world. I love how I can express my self freely without boundaries or limitations and put my creatively on a plate. I have an extremely vivid imagination. To me creating a dish is like composing a song or a work of art, Harmoniously blending together flavors, textures and visually attracting people tantalizing all their senses simultaneously. In high school, I wasn’t a good student, not that I wasn’t intelligent but I didn’t do well with that style of learning. I would barely make it to graduation, almost getting expelled for several offenses, I was granted a last chance and I had to attend open campus to get the extra credits I needed for graduation… It was only when I enrolled into Atlanta Technical College for culinary arts did I finally find something I was passionate about! I excelled tremendously.
I started to make A’s and B’s, was placed on the Dean’s list and even won the John Pisker culinary scholarship. I learned so much while in school but as years went on I fell on Finacial hardships and had to move back with my father in his basement. I had lost everything and I was back to square one. I can remember selling my car for $300 at one point and pawning everything I had. I was working at Teds Montana grill when I had an opportunity to work in the film industry building movie sets. I dropped everything at the drop of a dime, school, my job and I took a leap of faith. This ended up being one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, to invest in my future. I was able to travel the world, learn about new cultures and cuisines from places like Cuba, Japan, London, Amsterdam, Jamaica and a few other destinations. In 2108 me and my brother Terrance who also was working in the film industry came up with the concept for Zun Zún while at a bar discussing how we wanted to create a concept that touched a bit of our families Cuban roots, although we didn’t grow up Cuban we still wanted to remain as authentic as possible while still letting our creativity shine through.
We started partnering up with local breweries and took a grassroots approach with getting to know of customers face to face. That was a great experience and it gave us all the inspiration that we needed to take it to the next level. In September 2019, we opened up our first physical location at We suki suki right in the heart of East Atlanta Village. This has been a wonderful journey that we want to share with everyone of how we stayed consistent and tenacious through it all. We want to be inspiration to all people that you can do anything you put your mind to with hard work and discipline. We have plans to expand next year for lunch hours and we are excited about the launch of our signature mojo sauce and spicy peri peri sauces that will be bottled up for everyone to enjoy.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road to success isn’t a straight road. Along the way, you’ll encounter many hurdles and mountains, but with faith and a tenacious hungry spirit we were able conquer anything. I would have to say for me finding a really good team would be challenging at the moment which is vital for any company to grow so we are always searching for good qualified people who share the same passion for serving others as we do. This business takes extreme focus and tenacity. You have to be bold in your pursuit of success. You can’t let shortcomings or mishaps deter you from your plan.
Zun Zún – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are Zun Zún. We are an Afro-Latin restaurant located inside We suki suki global collective. We serve the best Cuban sandwiches in the city of Atlanta !! (No cap) All of our sauces are made fresh in house with all locally sourced produce. We also offer catering services for any type of event or corporate function, no matter the size we can accommodate. Although we are known for our O.G. Cuban we also have very tasty vegetarian and vegan options like our fried okra with our signature spicy peri peri sauce. We have rice bowls, with house-made black beans, hand smashed tostones, empanadas, and even dessert. Everything is made fresh to order. Our guava-cream cheese empanadas with dulce de leche will have you craving more !! I am most proud of the fact that we are generous with our giving which was ingrained in us as children to give back to the community in which we are located. We try to minimize as much waste and remain sustainable by giving food to the homeless and less fortunate, which they really appreciate. We are striving to become the fabric of the community where people from any background can come in and be treated with love and kindness. That is the culture of Zun Zún. That is what we want the world to know us for besides our amazing food.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Opening up our first location was a happy moment for us.
Contact Info:
- Address: 479-B Flat shoals Ave SE Atlanta, GA 30316.
We also are available on uber eats, doordash, Grubhub and Postmates - Website: www.zunzunatl.com
- Phone: 404 401 6691
- Email: zunzunatl@gmail.com
- Instagram: Zunzunatl
- Yelp: Zun Zún
Image Credit:
John A.
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