MILWAUKEE — In her family’s kitchen Saturday, Raquelle Boyd professionally known as Chef Kisses moved with confidence well beyond her years as she prepared the feast she began working on since 6 that morning.
After the success of her first pop-up drive-thru, which drew in a few dozen customers—some even waited 2 hours to try her food, the 11-year-old was ready for round two.
“It made me feel happy and that people really enjoy my food,” she said.
On Saturday she spent hours whipping up quite the menu, with very little help, cooking fried chicken, collard greens, mac n cheese, cornbread and more.
When Raquelle first came to her parents with the idea, mom Sarhena Boyd said her first instinct was to encourage her passion like they had done pretty much all her life, from her play kitchen set to her first deep fryer at 5 years old.
“She’s been talking about Chef Kisses’ Place for a very long time,” Sarhena said. “So when she came up with this idea it was like hey why not, we do a lot of stuff as a family.”
Though the first go around the Boyds were in a bit over our heads they’re heads, because the turnout was much bigger than they expected they kept going.
For the Boyds supporting their daughter's dream of owning her own restaurant one day comes with more than just helping set up the drive-through. Like any new business owner, their daughter needed capital to get started so they acted as investors but more importantly, they’re helping her learn what it takes to run a business.
“This is something she has a passion about she don't just talk about it, she'll actually put the effort in,” dad Robert Boyd said. “We sponsored the first one and she took literally— the second one everything that came from her menu to her balloons her flyers, she paid for all of it herself.”
The 11-year-old's proud parents said It’s savvy business moves like that, that get Chef Kisses one step closer to owning her own restaurant, maybe even a Michelin star.
Still for Raquelle, it seems she measures success in the faces of the people who have the pleasure of trying her food.
“I just wanted to cook and show everybody else how I cook,” she said.
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