Written by Fechi Marcel

Last April, Simileolu Adebajo, announced on Twitter that she quit her job as a financial analyst to open the first Nigerian restaurant in San-Francisco. Prior to that, she had been cooking for people but not on a grand scale. She saw an opening and took it. At the time, her passion was in sharing Nigerian cuisine with some of her grad school classmates and it was also an opportunity to earn some extra cash. After quitting her job and fully throwing herself into being a restaurateur, many opportunities and challenges presented themselves.

Having had her own share of racism, human capital challenges and living in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, her determination to succeed has been evident. On July 28, 2020, on her way to work she saw a building on fire and didn’t realize at first that it was her new restaurant space on fire.

Still, she was able to take some time off and re-strategize on how to continue her business. She has catered for events at Facebook SF, Twitter, and many more. Her ongoing partnership with SFNewdeal, which is a non-profit organization is a major contributor to her being open all through the lockdown to provide food for the homeless, essential workers amongst others.

From surviving COVID-19 to juggling school and her restaurant business, Simileolu Adebajo shares her journey to building a Nigerian restaurant in San Francisco

How did you start Eko Kitchen?

Eko Kitchen started when I arrived in San-Francisco and I realized that there was no representation for Nigeria in the city. I just decided that our food is amazing and needed to be shared with as many people as possible. So I started hosting dinner parties for my grad school classmates and from there, we progressed to pop-up dinners, food delivery, and that was how the restaurant took off.

Nice! Let’s go back a little. When and why did you decide to become a chef?

I never really decided to become a chef, that just kind of happened. The profession fell into my lap. Initially, I was simply hosting Nigerian dinner parties for my classmates in grad school and they liked the food so much. I then took a stab at hosting pop-up events with entry tickets. That was when I decided to register the business and actually transition into a full restaurant.

That’s interesting. But how did you manage to balance school and cooking at this time?

I can’t say that I had some sort of method to balance school and my business at the same time. There’s no exact method to it. It was a factor of discipline and serious multi-tasking. I split my time between both projects and dedicated hours solely to school work and my fulltime job and other hours I spent in Eko kitchen.

Now that you’re in the food industry, what challenges have you faced since you became an employer?

I’ve faced many challenges but as a business owner, I learned that consistently managing challenges is the only way to ensure your business grows. I have faced financial challenges, human capital challenges and operational issues.

At the end of the day, I’ve come to accept that there will always be problems but at the end of the day, it’s up to me as a business owner to have critical thinking skills to scale over any hurdle.

Speaking of challenges, it’s been a tough year for the food industry. How did COVID-19 affect your business personally?

COVID-19 really changed my business. Prior to the pandemic, a chunk of revenue came from dine-in guests. No thanks to the pandemic, the dine-in service is no longer a good option since the revenue dropped considerably.. I had to really think about how we recreate the same meaningful experience guests walked in for via delivery servi9ces. I eventually got the opportunity to work for a non-profit dedicated to feeding the homeless, the elderly and COVID-19 patients in San-Francisco.

Now, in addition to doing take-out, I have this partnership with the non-profit organization which keeps the restaurant open and the employees employed.

That’s super impressive. Good luck with that. Let’s go to the kitchen. How would you describe your style of cooking?

My style of cooking is Naija Fusion. I love to experiment and come up with culinary creations that are Nigerian-American just like me. I formulated a dessert recipe for Eko Kitchen which is a cake made out of garri flour which is surprisingly so good. So, I would say my cooking is authentic, soulful, spicy, but also very much like me, Nigerian American.

Now I want to try your dessert. What’s the most dramatic thing you’ve experienced at Eko Kitchen?

One time, somebody brought their Nigerian mom or aunty to the restaurant one weekend; I remember this clearly because she ordered a whole catfish. That dish is a whole catfish and we prepare our meals to order so it was going to take between 25-30 minutes. The waitstaff informed her before she placed the order but it didn’t end well. When she started complaining 10 minutes after placing her order, I went out to speak to her and explain the reason behind the wait time.

Eventually when the meal came out, I was called back to her table and mind you, she was 75% through the dish at this point. She looked at me and said it was the worst catfish she had ever had in her life, that I should have opened it up and put things in. She started giving me tips on how she cooks her catfish and refused to pay full price for the meal. I decided to let it go and we charged her 50% of the item.

Any plans on hosting pop-ups or collaborations in Lagos?

I’m always open to collaborations in Lagos and I will most likely have a pop-up this December in Lagos depending on what is safe given the COVID-19 restrictions. But I do plan on having a food presence while I’m back in Lagos.

EKO KITCHEN: Simileolu Adebajo’s Journey Of Determination & Discipline