Meet Lakee & Shamika Upshaw of Chef La’s Fish Fry in Smyrna

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lakee & Shamika Upshaw.

Hi guys – thanks for sharing your story with us!  Please kick it off for us – let’s start from the beginning. How did it all get started?

How Chef La’s Fish Fry (Atlanta) came to be…OMG – you wouldn’t believe!  Such a wonderful story if I do say so myself.  First of all, they met in NYC on 4/29/11.  Shamika’s (the wife) family was up visiting from Atlanta/Tampa and wanted to go out.  The week before, Shamika and a few friends lounge-hopped around Harlem so she decided to take the family to one of the places they had visited…The Red Rooster.  As soon as they arrived and started to dance, she noticed this guy looking at her very hard from across the room.  She ignored it at first, thinking he couldn’t be too interested since he didn’t say anything and plus she was too busy celebrating her promotion to Director of a little known web company called SPORTS ILLUSTRATED! So yes, God is good and she was on cloud nine that night especially with her family in town! A little while later, her mom said something to “him” and then walked away.  She later found out that her mom asked if he was hot in his jacket…the place was a tad hot 🙂
At any rate, her comment to him broke the ice and he (Lakee or La) decided to say something to Shamika.  The conversation proceeded as follows:

Lakee: Hi there…Where are you from?
Shamika: I’m from New York…the boogie down boo! (with her southern twang)

Lakee: Uh, No you’re not.  For real, where are you all from?
Shamika: I’m from Atlanta but live in NY – Harlem.  My family is visiting from Tampa and Atlanta.

Lakee: Oh yea, I used to live in Atlanta for a while.  I’m back in Brooklyn now.
Shamika: Oh yea, I used to live in Brooklyn.

Lakee: What part?
Shamika: Winthrop Ave

Lakee: Oh yea.  Well if you lived over there, you probably had some of my fish during the concerts at Wingate.  I’m an Executive Chef and have a mobile fish fry business.
Shamika: Naw – I loooovvvvvve fish so I would have remembered having some of your fish in that area.  Fish fry…mobile fish business…Hmmmmm…Wait a minute!!!

Shamika Reminiscing to Lakee: I met a guy over a year ago in Atlanta.  I was at one of my favorite fish restaurants – where I always go to get fish when I am in Atlanta.  This guy mentioned that New York had the best fish.  I immediately told him that I live in NY and it does not have the best fish.  The fish is not seasoned right, has too much pepper…I have to come to Atlanta to get good fish.  He then says to me, you must be crazy…you have to get in touch with my friend – he has a mobile fish business and he has the best fish.  I will give you his number so that you can reach out when you are in New York.  Blah Blah Blah…

Shamika (Overly Excited): Can you just give me your phone number!!!
Lakee: 777-9311

Shamika (while pressing the correct digits and pushing send on phone): OMG!!!!!!!!  Your number is already saved in my phone!  Is it “Lake”? (while showing him the phone)
Lakee: Ugh, No, it has 2 E’s…Its L-A-K-E-E

Shamika: That was your friend I met over a year ago in Atlanta.  What are the chances of that??!?!?!?
Lakee: I remember that, why didn’t you ever call?

They knew then that their meeting was Divine Order – no one but God could orchestrate such a feat. Shamika knew that Lakee was either going to be her business partner, her husband, or both and she told her family that very night.  With her love of food and cooking, she has always wanted to own a restaurant…She meets an Executive Chef.  Fish is her favorite food…She can eat it every day of the week…She meets an Executive Chef with a mobile fish fry business.  She met a man who was after her heart, who shared her philosophy on life, on relationships…he regurgitated everything she had ever said she wanted in a mate…it was as if God put a mirror in front of her.  He sent her someone that she can build with, someone she can see as the head of her family…someone she loves and who definitely loves her back!

And now – here they are back in the ‘A’ as both husband and wife & business partners! They were married 4/29/12 – a year to the day of their meeting and now their passions have collided to start Chef La’s Fish Fry Seafood Grill & Catering. Isn’t God Good…All The Time!

We hope you enjoyed our story and more importantly our food & service. Our goal is to provide fresh, hot, tasty food with consistency and a smile. Please like us on Facebook/cheflasfishfry and continue to follow our story to see where God takes us next!

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?
Overall it’s been a good run. As a new business owner you get hit from left and right with what your business “should be” doing – all of which amounts to money money money. We had to learn what works, what doesn’t and what will have the overall biggest impact to our business in terms of new customers, revenue and profits. All marketing is not good marketing or needed marketing for a small mom and pop. We learned that hyper-local is the way to go for us and we pushed back on the companies that just wanted to sell ad impressions. If we are paying, we want to partner with someone that will put the customer in our store. We have been lucky to find a few key partners that do just that and we have grown our business through their referrals as well as word of mouth. For a fee of course, but it’s worth it. It has worked better than any billboard or mailing we have done.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Chef La’s Fish Fry is a small mom and pop restaurant in the Smyrna area. We specialize in delicious fried fish, shrimp and smoked wings; however, we offer the ability to get almost everything grilled as well for the health conscious. We are known as the Home of the Shrimp Burger – our specialty sandwich which is a spin-off of a po-boy. We take a buttered & toasted hamburger bun, add lettuce, tomato, or delicious fried shrimp and then top with crabmeat mayo (yum) and then our house-made Sham Sauce which has a little kick to it. Your mouth will thank you. We pride ourselves as a scratch kitchen as all of our food is made in house – fresh collards, cabbage, baked mac-n-cheese, jalapeno fritter, peach cobbler, lemon pound cake, tartar sauce, sham sauce, salad dressings – balsamic, ranch, blue cheese, etc. etc.! And don’t forget about our award-winning Peach Lemonade. Yes, in 2014 we won the Taste of Marietta’s award for Tastiest Beverage!! And it is consistently the top seller in our restaurant. Don’t like Peach, we also carry a Strawberry Lemonade and then my favorite our Sweet Tea. We work hard to stay true to this concept while so many others are putting out pre-packaged goods. We want you to taste the difference in our food and definitely do not want it to taste like it has been on a shelf for months.

Pricing:

• 2pc Whiting Fish & Fry special for your readers – $4.99
• Dinner Special – 2pc Whiting w/Collards or Cabbage and Mac N Cheese – $8.99
• 16oz Peach Lemonade – $2.00

Contact Info:

• Address: 4924 South Cobb Drive, Ste #M, Smyrna, GA 30080
• Website: www.cheflafishfry@gmail.com
• Phone: 678-293-5170
• Email: cheflafishfry@gmail.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cheflasfishfry/
• Twitter: @cheflafishfry
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/chef-las-fish-fry-seafood-grill-and-catering-smyrna