While teenage small business owners often feel overwhelmed and under supported, Benson senior Hatiate Lam is breaking down barriers through her African-diaspora focused restaurant inspired by her Ugandan-South Sudanese background.
In order to create a business one requires discipline, organization and most importantly, passion. Lam has taken each of these skills, as well as her experience, to grow SalamaEats, a prosperous home-based restaurant accumulating over 1,700 followers. Her Signature Afro Plate and Homegrown Fried Chicken Plate serves as a representative of the diversity found at Benson.
“I love food,” Lam said. “I’ve been loving food since I was a little kid, but what inspired me most is really culture. I love being black, so I like cooking foods from the diaspora like African food and African American soul foods.”
Lam maintains a transparent relationship with her customers by vlogging each of her shopping hauls, so customers are able to see what truly goes into their food. This ensures that each plate she sells is strictly dedicated to her long-term mission: providing real, healthy food and celebrating every member of the diaspora at once.
Although Lam highlights different cultures during each meal, ingredients often overlap and identities are shared. Chicken plays a major role in each of her dishes, often creating a bridge between the distant diasporas.
“My favorite thing to make is wings, like anything wings,” Lam said. “It could be like hot wings, fried chicken wings, I just love wings.”
While Lam’s food has proven to be a success, she has struggled starting up a home-based restaurant with little supporters. As a teenager, she is challenged with balancing her part-time job and restaurant business, especially when already busy with advanced placement classes.
“My biggest problem facing my business was setting up a system that works for me and my customers,” Lam said. “It took me awhile to get my system organized, like my menu, how to handle customer service, and how to handle pre-orders.”
Lam has turned these mistakes into lessons. Incorporating a weekly schedule of rotating meals focusing different parts of the diaspora each day has allowed her to stay organized and promote the best quality ingredients to her customers.
“I have weekday plates, but to meet my customers in the middle, I have a Wednesday special that I rotate based off my customers’ requests,” Lam said. “I also have people pre order through a google form rather than just DMing me because I want to look more professional.”
The consistent support of her customers has served as a reminder of why her work is vital in bridging the gap between the divided black community.
“I have 1700 people following me from Omaha, Nebraska and it’s just weird people have been messaging me saying my plates are good.” Lam said.
As Lam continues to grow in her career, she is dedicated to continuing her business due to the support of her customers.
“I already have people telling me not to stop, so that’s what I’m going to do,” Lam said. “I’m just not going to stop and hopefully expand to like a food truck or something way bigger so I can serve more people.”
