“You need to put your heart and soul into it.”
How did Jackie Griffin’s dream of owning her own business – now known as Jackie’s Dream, Knoxville’s popular soul food restaurant– become more than just a dream? A leap of faith, a thick skin, and a passion for cooking. These were just a few of the ingredients. At least that’s how Jackie tells it.
“One Sunday, I made $500 in 4 hours … cooking!,” Jackie recalls. “I was so surprised and excited that I needed to tell someone. I called a good friend – a successful restauranteur – and when I told him, he said that if I wanted to try cooking for a living, he had an uncle who was looking to rent a restaurant space in a building he owned.”
Jackie’s first inclination was to decline the offer. She had just left a job she’d felt was unrewarding, and while she had been giving serious thought to starting a business of her own, she also had serious concerns. First, the challenges of starting a business from scratch. Second, the challenge of starting a business in an industry that is highly competitive and can be especially tough for women. On the other hand, she says, she had a passion for cooking and felt she really needed a change in her working life.
“I gave it a lot of thought and prayed on it,” she says, “and things started happening. I decided to take the space and moved in with nothing more than the expectation that my business might become a regular, little neighborhood chicken wing joint.” Of course, things didn’t go the way she’d expected.
While Jackie originally envisioned a modest neighborhood “wing joint,” her determination and passion turned it into much more. And then, there was the support of family, friends, and the Knoxville community. “My mom, my restauranteur friend, my son, a friend of my son’s, my cousin, my business partner’s sister, my nieces… all of them were helping out in one way or another and at one time or another.”
Raised by her grandmother, Jackie was brought up with a tradition of hospitality. “You never know when somebody might stop by,” her grandmother used to say. “You always gotta have something to feed them.” That spirit of looking after others, and always being prepared to feed them, certainly lives on in Jackie’s Dream—every dish is prepared with care and generosity, as well as an authentic love of cooking. “I want everyone who eats here to have the same kind of connection to food and cooking as I had as a child.”
Operating a restaurant isn’t without its trials, especially for women. Jackie’s advice to other aspiring female entrepreneurs is to “develop thick skin, stay focused on personal worth, and persist through hardships. You have to love what you do,” she says. “If it’s just a job, you’ll never amount to anything. But if you put your heart and soul into it, your time will come.”
Ironically, Jackie can see how being a woman in business can be advantageous at times. “Some days you’ve got to push a little harder and come up with new ways of doing things. As women, we’re good at that, especially when you have children. That desire and ability to push through comes naturally to us.”
Jackie celebrates the 10th anniversary of her business this year. In addition to family, hard work, talent and perseverance, she says she appreciates the role the Knoxville’s community has played in her success. Since its start, the popularity of Jackie’s Dream has reached far beyond its East Knoxville roots. Still, Jackie considers the Knoxville community her family and sees her customers as much more than just patrons. “I always feel like I’m cooking for family. And, based on the success we’ve been having, I guess that comes out in the food we serve.”