LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Aaron Williams, owner of Chicago’s Jerk Tacos, always has had a passion for cooking.
“I’ve never done anything else and received a paycheck for it,” Williams said.
From starting off helping his grandmother in the kitchen at the age of nine, to now being a successful restaurant owner, Williams is dedicated to his craft.
“I used to bug my mom all the time, ‘Can I cook for the holidays?’ and she, it took a while to gain the trust, and the first thing I remember, the first thing she let me make was the macaroni. I made the macaroni for Thanksgiving, and the whole family loved it, and I was like, okay, I think I’m going to take this seriously,” Williams recalled.
Now, Williams is realizing a vision he’s had since starting his own business four years ago.
“So this is our commissary space, this will be our shared kitchen space,” Williams explained.
Williams has transformed a large section of the building he operates out of into an incubator for entrepreneurs looking to take their food business to the next level.
“Each station will include a stainless steel table, a sanitizer bucket, towels, a rack for you to unload your products that you’re using for the day,” he described.
Business owners can rent out one of 14 prep stations along with cold storage. Clients pay a set fee, and Williams covers utilities and other costs. He also provides a large selection of equipment and supplies, something he says isn’t always offered at other spaces.
Within weeks of opening, the kitchen already has its first tenant, Amiracle Ade Lemonade.
“He just said he had space available, so we came over and checked them out and we’ve been here ever since,” Erica Thompson, production manager for Amiracle Ade Lemonade, said.
Thompson adds now they’re able to have all of their production and storage under one roof.
“We don’t have to worry about storing it, because we had a storage unit that we were paying for a first on top of everything else that we were doing, so this gives us the opportunity to just stay focused and just push the lemonades,” Thompson added.
A Shawnee High School graduate himself, Williams sees this space as his way of giving back to both business owners and his community, which lacks easy access to fresh and healthy food.
“Also, I think that it’s very important for our community to see business owners that look like them and talk like them, and so those are the two main reasons why I chose this space out of the entire city,” Williams emphasized.
This selfless act aims to foster the next generation of successful chefs.
Williams plans to collaborate with groups like AMPED Louisville, which provides resources to help businesses succeed in the West End. To get in touch with Williams, you can call him at this number (502)-965-0965.