DELAND, Fla. – A Volusia County restaurant has found what you might call the “secret sauce” when it comes to running a business.
A Taste of Soul in DeLand is taking their family recipes and serving them up to the Central Florida community.
“Once you come here, you’re considered family anyway,” said Taste of Soul owner Yvette Williams. “So, we consider this just a big old family affair.”
Yvette said it was her husband Corey’s dream to open his own restaurant 31 years ago. But she said they wanted to wait for God’s timing.
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“We stepped out on faith,” Williams said. “He left his job with the county. I continued to work as a nurse, but I was willing to support my husband.”
Yvette and Corey opened up Taste of Soul seven years ago and it centered around family traditions with many of the recipes coming from Yvette’s mother.
“It was always, ‘come watch what I do,’ and she never measured anything,” Williams said. “You had to be careful. It was a pinch of this and a little bit of this and a dab of this.”
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Yvette’s sister, Zorena Artis, does most of the cooking at Taste of Soul and said she spent years in the kitchen learning from her mom.
“She would say a pinch of this for a pinch of that,” Artis said. “I wasn’t quite sure what a pinch was, so I just did it until it tasted good. I’ve done it so long; I could probably do it blindfold.”
Yvette and Corey’s daughter, Ariel Clemons also works for the family business. She said it warms her heart to see customers enjoying the food she grew up with.
“To see other people enjoy it as much as I do, this warms my heart,” Clemons said. “People do come here and get to enjoy the food and they come back here for seconds and thirds and they become family.”
The menu is full of staple items they serve up every day like Mac N’ Cheese, but one item stands out above the rest.
“The fried chicken,” Williams said. “Fried chicken, fried chicken — and then I would say Mac N’ Cheese. Everybody loves that Mac N’ Cheese.”
Serving up good food, with good company — they said Taste of Soul has been a 7-year blessing.
“We stay in that kitchen,” Williams said. “If you just walk in, there’s a window. And if you walk back there, we’re laughing and joking and we’re reminiscing about the past and we just can’t get enough of each other. I’m telling you, this is my life. I love my family, I absolutely love them.”
Taste of Soul is located in the West Volusia Regional Shopping Center at 2723 S Woodland Blvd. DeLand, FL 32720.
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