PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Five Black Philly chefs who started a hunger relief program for underserved communities during the pandemic are now opening their share of a food hall in Chester to help fund their efforts.
Stephanie Willis, Aziza Young, Malik Ali, Kurt Evans and Gregory Headon make up Everybody Eats Philly. The new hall at 801 Sproul St. is called Everybody Eats at Vittles, featuring five different concepts: tacos, pizza and burgers, soul food, sandwiches, and “the perfect catch.”
“That’s all seafood,” Young said. “That’s Steph’s baby.”
“We also want to give cultural, relevant food to people,” added Evans.
He said the idea is to create the feeling of a community gathering place.
“Having Black chefs in a town that’s predominantly Black and being able to show them how we, as Black chefs, do business — representation means a lot,” said Evans.
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Vittles will be Everybody Eats’ home base to provide low-cost food to the community.
The group is also working on a partnership with the Careers Through Culinary Arts Program at Chester High School just up the street, where they will mentor students in a culinary education.
And, it’s no accident that their grand opening takes place on Saturday. Willis said they purposely waited until Black History Month in order to make a statement.
“We are a team of Black chefs opening during Black History Month, opening in a very Black and brown town,” she said. “So for me, it’s getting the community involved and doing what we love to do for people that need a little bit of love.”
For more on Everybody Eats at Vittles, listen to the KYW Newsradio original podcast What’s Cooking on the Audacy app or in the audio player above.