Entrepreneur Chad Dillon is killing the restaurant enterprise in Atlanta. He opened his first restaurant, which was additionally the primary Black-owned seafood restaurant within the metropolis through the pandemic, and went on to make $8 million in gross sales that 12 months. Three years later, Dillon has opened up three extra eateries within the Atlanta space, together with The Seafood Menu with mega-rapper Lil Child.
EBONY sat down with the restaurateur to listen to about his eating places, how he grew to become a businessman, and what led to him going into enterprise with one of many greatest rappers out.
EBONY: What was your first introduction into entrepreneurship?
Chad Dillon: I went to Howard College for a level in enterprise, and through my second 12 months of faculty, I bought an unique automobile. Folks began providing me cash to lease it—for video shoots and different random issues. I began noticing that I might make a enterprise out of that, and it went rather well. So I ended up going from one automobile to love seven automobiles, and so they all paid for themselves. That was my first official enterprise.
What led you to the restaurant enterprise?
I moved to Atlanta perhaps about six, seven years in the past, and the one seafood spot was in Smyrna. They had been making thousands and thousands. Everyone was driving half-hour to eat in Smyrna. Naturally, as a businessman, I used to be like, if we deliver crab legs to Buckhead, we’ve got to win. So I attempted to franchise a Juicy Crab, however the house owners informed me I wanted restaurant expertise, which pressured me to must open my very own seafood spot, The Crab Boiler.
What is the greatest battle you confronted as a Black man within the restaurant area?
Getting previous the stereotypes individuals had been making an attempt to placed on me and the enterprise. That it may be “ghetto”, it may have hookah, it isn’t going to be family-friendly. However, I constructed a franchise that is for everyone.
How did you and Lil Child resolve to workforce as much as open a restaurant?
Lil Child was already an excellent buddy of mine initially, and he really had the placement picked out as a result of he all the time wished to present again and do one thing in his precise neighborhood the place he grew up. We had been speaking sooner or later, and he stated he wished to name it The Menu. I used to be like there’s solely hen spots on this facet of city, so let’s deliver seafood right here and name it The Seafood Menu. Lil child beloved it.
Why was opening The Seafood Menu so necessary to you and Lil Child?
He [Lil Baby] wished to present again to his neighborhood by offering jobs and meals. The opposite factor he was very adamant about was that the meals needed to be inexpensive. At The Crab Boiler, a crab leg plate could be nearly $35. At The Seafood Menu, it’s solely $12.99. Even promoting seafood, we even have the most affordable meals on the block.
