Molly's Soulful Café
Molly's Soulful Café
Molly's Soulful Café
Molly's Soulful Café
Molly's Soulful Café
Welcome to Molly's Soulful Café
Welcome to Molly's Soulful Café
Welcome to Molly's Soulful Café
Welcome to Molly's Soulful Café
This campaign is closed
Molly's Soulful Café
Welcome to Molly's Soulful Café
Welcome to Molly's Soulful Café
Welcome to Molly's Soulful Café
Welcome to Molly's Soulful Café
Welcome to Molly's Soulful Café
“Soul Food” is a term used for an ethnic cuisine, food traditionally prepared in Southern United States. The style originated during American slavery and has been passed down from generation. Molly’s Soulful Café looks to build on this tradition by continuing the recipes that Big Mama passed down to Marlo “Molly” Stroud.
I love cooking! I love seeing my family and friends comforted by my cooking. The biggest compliment is when they ask for seconds. I’ve been cooking as long as I can remember. By age 9, I was cooking entire meals…from fried chicken with smothered potatoes and collard greens to homemade pancakes, waffles, and biscuits.
Growing up I spent a lot of time with my grandparents and remember watching my grandmother, Big Mama prepare meals for our entire family. Basically, she taught me everything I know, and it's her recipes that I will be using at Molly’s Soulful Café.
When she passed away in 2002, I took the lead in preparing family dinners, and seeing how much my family enjoyed the meals I realized just how well I could cook. They constantly told me my cooking reminded them of Big Mama’s and that I should open up my own restaurant so they could have the food all year long. I loved the idea…I just knew I wasn’t moving back to Chicago, so I put the idea on the back burner. For the past 14 years I’ve focused on my career as a financial controller; however, my passion for cooking has not waned. While my career has been fulfilling, it has not provided the pleasure and passion I feel when I'm in the kitchen and serving friends and family. This is why I’ve decided to pursue my dream of opening up Molly’s Soulful Café.
Molly’s Soulful Café is more than a passion project of Marlo “Molly” Stroud. Since relocating to Studio City, she has searched for a good soul food restaurant and has been unsuccessful which is why she plans to open Molly's on Ventura Blvd.
Sherman Oaks has a population of over 60,000 people. It is a family community with 51% reporting to be married. It is an economically sound population with a median income of $69,651 and over 60% college graduates. It also has a thriving dining community but lacks the options for soul food cuisine. Add to this the growing diversity in the community and you have a recipe for success.
Molly’s Soulful Café looks to fill this gap in service.
We project that the restaurant start-up costs will be $250,000 overall. These funds will cover the costs of formation, legal, accounting, furniture, fixtures, equipment, personnel, training and miscellaneous costs. This will also help with continuing costs of salaries, rent, and insurance.
Since incorporating earlier this year the team has been working hard to secure the funds required. Our current commitments from friends, family, and Marlo herself have us at about 40% of our start-up costs. We are in negotiations with investors that should help us reach 70 - 80% of our goal. Your generous support will help us reach our ultimate goal and make Molly's Soulful Cafe a reality.
Your donation and investment through this campaign will help us acquire equipment, permits, and licenses. We feel confident, that with your support we will be able to reach our goal and open the doors to Molly's Soulful Café in January 2017.
Molly’s Soulful Café will host beer and wine tasting and serve up soul food staples like:
Owner/Cook: Marlo “Molly” Stroud has been cooking authentic soul food since she was a little girl. From hosting soul food Sundays at her studio city apartment for several years, catering for a 65 person worship team at her former church, to small movie sets Molly knows her way around the kitchen. With over 14 years of corporate finance experience, she is well versed in financial management.
Restaurant Manager: Having graduated from The Hotel School at Cornell, with a major in Restaurant Entrepreneurship Rebekah has over 10 years experience in hospitality that includes: Hotel Management, Restaurant Management, and Human Resources. She is well versed in California Labor laws based on her background in Human Resources and is also familiar with union working environments. Food is her passion and delivering excellent customer service is her niche.
Kitchen Manager: Mark has over 5 years of hotel and hospitality supervisory experience. Winning Employee of the year from one of the top hotel companies in the world, we are happy to have him on our team.
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