Today we’d like to introduce you to Shunni Logan, of Journey River’s Soul Kitchen. Them and their team share their story with us below:
The story behind the Woman of Journey River’s Soul Kitchen: Growing up in Philadelphia, PA, Shunni Logan, a young lady of many talents and skills loved family gatherings. Each holiday, she’d linger around the kitchen at her grandparent’s house watching her Grandma Estelle, Aunt Maisie and Aunt June cook, laugh and reminisce about the times they spent growing up in Three Rivers Mississippi. In that kitchen at 6340 Greene St. is where Shunni was taught the fundamentals of cooking with love, soul and passion at just seven years old. Unfortunately, her Grandmother passed just two years later, but her spirit lived on in that kitchen for many years after. As her beloved Grandfather, Robert Logan mourned the passing of his loving wife, one of the ways Shunni contributed to the comfort of her family and keeping her Grandmother’s memory alive was cooking Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner every year starting at just nine years old. She loved it, and the tradition would carry out for her family and friends outside of the holidays for years to come. Nothing made her more happy than to host and entertain her family and friends.
Cooking was a brewing gift that hadn’t come to life just yet. Her initial gift and first love was music. Her grandparents placed her in the famous freedom theater school of performing arts where she cultivated her talents for singing, acting and dancing. There she studied tapp, jazz and musical theater. Shunni later joined Images of the Motherland, an African folktale theater group that portrayed the stories of the Dogon people of Mali West Africa. Shunni was a constant student of her craft, studying under her music father and mentor Hollie Stain. With Stain’s expertise, she was developed into the artist Miss Logan. After joining many singing groups and even branching out on her own as an independent singer-songwriter she decided that taking her talents to ATL was where she’d get her first break. However, just when she arrived to Atlanta, Shunni and her family suffered several tremendous losses in the family, so unfortunately she had to return back to Philadelphia to mourn the losses with her family who she loved. During that year in 2015, Shunni went back to work at Gallerie Isada, an African and Black Art Events Venue where she had previously worked the past eight years as an operational manager. That year she made a name for herself in the events and hospitality industry so much so that other club owners in the city contacted her to assist with the opening of their establishments. Shunni successfully opened several other clubs and bars in the city of Philadelphia in just one year.
After years of loss and triumphs, Shunni finally stepped out on faith, packed her car up with everything she owned along with her dog Phoebe and hit the road. Life took its turns along the way during her early years in Atlanta. For years, Shunni struggled with infertility but in early 2020, she found out that she would finally become a mother. At the time, she was in her fourth year of employment at a popular Metro-Atlanta jazz restaurant where she worked her way up from bartender to bar manager. Finally, life started to make sense and everything she worked so hard for looked as if it was starting to come to fruition. She loved her job, she adored the guests and she had the esteemed pleasure in using her skills and talents to help cultivate an unforgettable dining experience for them.
Shunni was learning, growing, establishing and cultivating relationships and building a network with the artists and musicians who performed at the venue on a daily basis. Although demanding, being there never felt like work to her. She soaked up everything that she could, learned every trick of the trade and saved as much of her tips that she could afford. She was living her dream and working hard towards branching off on her own as a restaurant owner. Life had other plans. At just nine weeks pregnant, the pandemic hit and shut down everything! She was blessed not to lose anyone close to her, but she was laid off from both of her jobs at St. James Live and City Winery. She was devastated and unfortunately, unlike everyone else, she struggled with getting unemployment.
Months went by without no income at all, other than having her savings, she worried about making ends meet. During that time, everyone was at home. So, she tried to revive an online side hustle but it wasn’t as lucrative as she had hoped. Sales dropped and it seemed like people weren’t shopping as much. So, she pounded the pavement for several months during her pregnancy and sold luxury lashes out of the trunk of her car. She was going to get to it one way or another! To her dismay, that hustle was unsustainable and simply put, unsafe.
Always having dreamt of being a restaurant owner; providing an experience for the soul, palate and ears with delicious comfort foods, a relaxed vivacious ambiance and music performed by homegrown artists, local bands & talent who would travel far and wide to perform on stage at Journey River’s Soul Kitchen. When Shunni lost her job, dreams of being a restaurant owner felt intangible and hard to achieve. Until one day, after depleting her savings, almost losing her home and car, and still having the responsibility to provide for her very young son, She had a conversation with God. As cliche as this is going to sound, in a dream-like state of sleep, She heard a voice that said, “sell dinner platters”! The voice was so loud and so clear it woke her out of rest. Immediately she jumped up and began making a small menu of dinner options to sell that weekend.
A few years ago, she made an ambitious attempt to sell dinner platters. She created an audacious menu and told everyone she knew. There wasn’t a question in her mind that she wouldn’t sell out. She cooked Thanksgiving dinner by herself at the age of nine. People LOVED her food! How could she NOT sell out?! The day came and sales were abysmal. She lost the nerve after that. So, this time around, she had ZERO expectations. Shunni posted the menu on Facebook, along with her testimony, and by morning she had several orders from her village of family, friends and strangers. She was completely overwhelmed by the cash app donations from people who couldn’t even get a platter but merely donated because they wanted her to succeed.
That weekend, because she was obedient to God’s voice, she completely sold out. And with the money from those distant supporters, She had the privilege to feed and serve the homeless and a few families who were less fortunate. That was the relaunch and rebirth of a dream that she’d almost given up on. Shunni has been getting busy ever since. Between getting catering opportunities, cooking and selling lunch and dinner platters to locals and providing healthy and unique meal plans for her clients, she was already beginning to live out her dream and just a few opportunities away from achieving her dream restaurant.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Surely there has been plenty of obstacles, one in particular, balancing motherhood and entrepreneurship. Trying to come to terms with the idea that there is no way that I can be a stay-at-home single mother and still provide for my son a life that is without struggle, which provides him everything he needs. This has truly found a way to affect me emotionally. It’s an ongoing battle. I didn’t know that balancing work life and mommy life would contribute to so much of the anxiety that I already felt entering into motherhood. As some may know, chef life can be a lot of long days and long nights. I struggled with the guilt of having to leave him home with my mother for hours at a time and now, I struggle with the guilt of putting him in daycare for 7/8 hours out of the day. While I take great pride in being creative and catering to people and making them happy with my flavorful dishes, nothing could have prepared me mentally and emotionally for the void I feel when having to be away from my son.
Another challenge is choosing to follow my dreams vs choosing stability and getting a job. It probably would be much easier if I just took on a simple 9-5. Then, my son comes to mind when I have those lingering thoughts and fears. I think, what does that look like for me? What example am I teaching my son? I don’t knock anyone for going the route of a 9-5 versus following their dreams, but for me, it is important that when you have gifts and talents that they don’t die inside of you. I didn’t want to live with the regret of “what if?” anymore. I once had a dream to be a singer/ songwriter. For years, I’ve pursued music until I didn’t anymore. I wasn’t consistent, I gave up. Everyone around me who I came up in music with made it. They stuck to it and they made it. So, there’s a lesson here, a takeaway that maybe I learned a tad bit late, but no matter what obstacles I find myself facing, no matter what trials may come, my efforts toward reaching this goal has to stay consistent. Consistency is key! I have to succeed in this to some capacity. For my ancestors, my legacy, my son Journey, who is the fuel to my fire and the name sake and Co-Owner of our brand Journey River’s Soul Kitchen, and then, most importantly myself!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Journey River’s Soul Kitchen?
Journey River’s Soul Kitchen provides a soul comfort take out experience that is guaranteed to hit the spot! Our delectables are a variety of some of your favorite lunch, brunch and dinner choices. So far, some of our favorite dishes has been the lollipop lamb chops, our Soul Bowls filled with some of your favorite soul food combinations, and our perfectly seasoned salmon. Open Monday-Friday for lunch and dinner. When available, the “lunch lady” Ms. Logan takes her hustle to the streets, feeding local barbershops, hair salons, schools, Dr. offices and precincts. Our lunch and dinner platters has truly built a momentum and is starting to make a name for itself. Since January, this hustle has been consistently feeding families on the east side of Atlanta down to the south with affordable lunch and dinner meals and free delivery.
As business began to grow and gain credibility, our business developed additional services, as we now provide catering, bartending, staffing and meal prep services to our customers. We started off as just an in-house kitchen hustle, feeding the homeless and following God’s word to sell dinner platters. Now, we couldn’t be more proud about our accomplishments in such a short period of time. Our company has had the opportunity to cater clients like The National Coalition for 100 Black Women, The Senator of GA, Reverend Raphael Warnock and his Fundraising Campaign and with the support and donations of our loyal customers, we’ve been fortunate enough to be able to feed the homeless which has been a main goal that we strive to be able to continue to do for our community.
We are currently working on the blueprint for our food truck which we intend to launch Fall of 2023. This effort will then later fund Journey River’s Soul Kitchen, the restaurant and music venue.
What does success mean to you?
Success to me is leaving behind an empire for my son to inherit, and his children to inherit many years after I am gone.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.journeyriverskitchen.com
- Instagram: journeyriverskitchen
- Facebook: Journey River’s Soul Kitchen
Image Credits
Shunni Logan Jaidynn Logan Randall Lawrence
