Family Soul Spot Celebrates Anniversary

Sandra Williamson has literally cooked up success for a family venture that grew out of adversity.

Williamson opened Family Soul Spot on East Seventh Street after her job as a legal assistant in Manhattan was phased out. (Courier News reporter Mark Spivey told her story in an article that she keeps framed on her wall.) The restaurant business was new to her when she opened her doors on April 7, 2010.

“It was something that I knew nothing about. I just knew about cooking,” she said.

Early customers drawn in by her welcoming signage found a menu featuring classic soul food favorites including barbecued ribs and fried whiting with an array of sides such as yams, collard greens, macaroni and cheese and potato salad, and daily specials for take-out or dining in.  Home-style cakes and fruit cobblers round out the offerings. See Plaintalker's April 2010 post here.

As word got out and her customer base increased, Williamson made it past the crucial one-year mark for new businesses and currently has outlived three soul food competitors in Plainfield that have closed their doors.

Her main challenge, she says, was “trying to please everybody,” but she counts as her main success the other side of that coin, “seeing everybody satisfied with the food.”

Some customers come in as often as five times a week, she said.

“It’s really a boost to my ego.”

Her macaroni and cheese is a big favorite, she said.

"Sometimes we just point-blank run out."

Her adult children, Terry, Semaj, Miya, Shiana and sometimes James, help out and are by now familiar faces to patrons.

Williamson envisions a future with a larger place with more seating, but she intends to stay in Plainfield to keep her customer base. To celebrate her third anniversary today, "loyal customers” will receive a 10 percent discount on orders and everyone will get a treat.

“Stop in and get a surprise,” she says.