DETROIT (WXYZ) — The Whatcha Wanna Eat Food Hall is one of a kind.
It is the first Black-owned food hall in the state of Michigan.
It’s home to nine different restaurants, so there are plenty of options to choose from.
The food hall which sits on W. McNichols Road in Detroit is the brainchild of Chef Bobby Bailey.
“What I did in this area, I put high quality and good restaurants - like I have a smoothie bar here. We don’t have in this area,” said Chef Bailey.
Chef Bailey has been in the food industry for more than 30 years. He says the goal of the food hall is to give newer entrepreneurs a chance to grow their businesses.
“I noticed that a lot of cooks couldn’t get certain catering jobs, the internet cooks were cooking in their home,” said Chef Bailey. “So they didn’t have insurance on anything, so I said let me put a place together that’s licensed and insured so now they can go out and get them a job.”
Claude Brown recently moved back to Detroit from Houston, Texas. He had a food truck in Houston but wanted to come back home.
Brown says the food hall gave him the perfect opportunity to come back home and keep his business going.
“It’s hard to start stuff up like this by yourself without funding,” said Brown. “So for him to give you 80% of the layout and you bring in the rest. That’s a blessing.”
Ever since the food hall opened earlier this week, it has been a non-stop flow of customers coming in.
“I’ve been living in this community all my life… it’s good to see it’s coming back,” said customer Kim Nichols.
Chef Bailey says he wants to continue giving entrepreneurs a leg up so once one business moves out, another will move in.
