By Edward Henderson
Many transplants from the south to the west coast have a checklist of essential establishments they must find to feel at home. A place to worship, a place to get their hair done and a place for soul food. In San Diego, Felix’s BBQ with Soul has become the epicenter for a traditional southern meal that sticks to your ribs. After owner Felix Berry’s journey from his hometown of Troy, Alabama to the sun kissed sandy beaches of California, the entrepreneur is ready to give back to the community he now calls home.
The seeds of soul cuisine were planted in Berry from his mother. If he and his siblings were hungry, Mrs. Berry would give them recipes to prepare on their own. Berry’s first job was in a restaurant owned by the husband of one of his mother’s beautician clients. The trend continued at Wooster College in Ohio as he worked in a restaurant to pay his way through school.
Berry shifted from the hospitality industry after graduation and moved to Costa Mesa, California as an office manager to open a facility for a company. Berry completed the project ahead of schedule and spent the remaining time getting connected to the area. During his search for a soul food restaurant, he stumbled upon Ruth’s Place, a small location owned and operated by Ruth Davenport.
“When I walked in, she turned around and reminded me of my mother. We became best friends,” Berry said.
Davenport was also an Alabama native and had aspirations of opening a soul food restaurant with a fine dining feel. As their relationship developed, she had the idea of Berry buying out her restaurant and opening a larger location. In 2007 during an impromptu drive around Oceanside, Berry came across a rental property that grabbed his attention. He placed a bid for the lease with little expectation, but eventually was accepted. When he came to bring the news to Davenport she was admitted to the hospital for a cancer that had returned to her system. She passed away two weeks after the lease was signed.
Driven by the spirit of his dear friend, Berry was back in the restaurant business. There was a lot of work ahead to transform the raw shell of a location from the inside out. Adding to the challenge, the restaurant had to deal with the recession crippling startups around the nation. However, every year was an improvement and Felix’s BBQ with Soul survived.
“People appreciated the flavors and the profile. There aren’t that many soul food restaurants blueprinted from the ground up,” Berry said. “We wanted to put soul food on a platform that was on par with any other cuisine and represent this culture in the best possible light we could afford to do at the time.”
The opportunity came for a second location in Southeast after the closing of Magnolias. Partnership with the Jacobs Center got the ball rolling towards an expansion deal. The community was excited to have another black owned business in the area. While construction took longer than expected and administrative change within the Jacobs Center caused complications, the community stepped up once again to give Berry’s restaurant life.
“The strongest support came from the ministries,” Berry said. “The clergy would come to the restaurant once a week and I got to sit with them and talk about their concerns with the community. Whenever we needed feedback we would get it through the grapevine of the churches.”
The restaurant also gained popularity from their Sunday brunch program and by hosting an open mic on Tuesday nights entitled ‘Felix’s After Dark.’ The event, which opened with only eight people in attendance, now draws a standing room only crowd. Berry is working on ways to give back to the community that has supported his business. He’s planning on creating a community colander of events to post in local publications funded by the restaurant so organizations can promote their events at a discounted rate. He’s also focused on career path development for his employees to attain upward mobility within the restaurant as well as in other endeavors.
“It’s about creating a spark in someone that moves them towards a healthy curiosity,” Berry said. “Hopefully that curiosity added with some desire puts people in the mindset that they could do more in their lives. I want it to be difficult for people to fall asleep at night and being excited about getting up in the morning because they love what they’re doing.”
When trust is built within a group of people, the possibilities for growth are limitless. Felix’s BBQ with Soul has withstood the honeymoon phase associated with restaurants and aims to be more than just a place to break bread.
