WORT 89.9FM Madison

Stuff Yer Face: Marissa Holmes of Marie's Soul Food

This week on Stuff Yer Face, feature producer Emily Tucker chats with Marissa Holmes at her take-out restaurant, Marie's Soul Food, on Monroe Street. Driven by her love to eat and encouragement from family, Marissa opened Marie's Soul Food five years ago after a career in IT. This brick-and-mortar establishment not only survived, but thrived through the pandemic, offering classic comforting soul food take-out. Emily and Marissa chat about the journey to today, where Marie's welcomes weekly regulars and had a successful first Taste of Madison experience.

Broadcast on:: 24 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: other

- Hi everyone and welcome back to Stuff Your Face. I'm sitting down today with Marissa Holmes of Marie's Soul Food here at her brick and mortar establishment on Monroe Street. Marissa, you celebrated your five year anniversary this summer of Marie's Soul Food, so congratulations. Can you tell us where your passion for food came from and where your idea to open Marie's came from? - Thank you so much. My passion for food came from the fact that I love to eat. The idea of Marie's actually comes from my significant other who also loved my food and thought that it would be a good idea to give this a try. Initially, I was not on board because I did not know what to expect, but we went ahead and went along with it and I'm happy that we did. - That's such a great story. So you have got a partner who believes in you fully and it's obviously been a great success. It's been quite an accomplishment for restaurants who have survived the pandemic, but also it seems like you really grew through it. How do you feel like you were able to accomplish that? - Basically accommodating the public by remaining safe. When the pandemic happened, we decided to do curbside pickup only. We didn't allow anyone to come inside. We actually just ran the food out to their vehicle. And of course, we were masked up and due to the fact that there was nothing else to do besides eat and spend time with family, I feel like we've kind of fit in pretty good with the way things were going. - That's such a good point and a common thread to other businesses that I interview that during that time. Really, that was what people had to look forward to was eating. People definitely love your food. So I'm curious, what is your favorite thing on your menu to stuff your face with? - Well, the menu is based off of all of my favorites. So that's always been the hardest question for me. But as of late, I would have to say that our amazing catfish and our newly added menu item, red beans and rice together would happen to be my very favorite right now. - Delicious. And your mac and cheese, of course, is amazing. I always say that if I had to pick a last meal, it would be mac and cheese and yours is really up there on the list of mac and cheeses throughout Madison. So Marie, I saw that you participated in the Taste of Madison this year. You even won first place in best of taste in the vegetarian category for your sweet potatoes. So how did Taste of Madison go and how do you feel after it? - I feel amazing after the fact. I was a bit nervous before because I had never done anything as big before. So with the support of my family and my significant other and my friends, they encouraged me and I even had my best friend there to help me and my brother-in-law there to help me, who had also been a part of the Taste of Madison with another vendor. So at first it was scary, but we made it through and I think we did pretty well. - And have you seen an uptick in your business here in the restaurant since doing Taste of Madison, just getting that extra exposure around town? - Definitely and especially for the sweet potatoes. - Nice. And I bet being located so close to Camp Randall and now that football season has started, do you see an increase in traffic around this time of year in the fall as well? - Yes, this year we are doing something a little bit different for the earlier games. We plan on opening a little bit earlier so that we can catch the foot traffic coming towards us, but we also catch the traffic going home as well. So people take our food home with them for dinner when they see us, when they walk past, so definitely. - And what do you think is your favorite thing about working in the food industry, knowing that you came from a different industry prior to this? - My favorite thing is how much people have embraced what I'm doing because I was not always confident in what I did and over the years I have mastered what I do here in the love and support that everyone gives me and the fact that I have people that actually plan to come to Marie's for dinner, I have regulars that say, oh, we come here every other Friday so that really feels good. - You're definitely an important part of the community, not just here on Monroe Street, but around Madison. What is the most challenging thing about working in food? - The most challenging thing is managing time and deciding how much to cook because I cook everything every morning. So I have to decide how much to cook so that I'm not losing as much money with food waste. So that would have to be the most challenging. - I can only imagine, I think about that a lot, how on earth people who own businesses can really estimate how much they'll need throughout the day and not everything can be used again the following day, so that's really interesting to hear. What was your career before you started Marie's soul food? - I worked in network operations for 12 years, which is what I thought my passion was until we decided to open Marie's and I learned that this is what I'm supposed to be doing. - And do you feel you use that expertise and those skills from your past career in this one too? - Definitely, I don't have to call for much help when it comes to like if the register goes down. We recently integrated a new system and because of what I do know, I'm able to make any modifications to make things easier for us here, so yes. - Well, you are quite the entrepreneur, clearly very fearless. Thank you so much for the delicious food that you provide and we wish you many more years of continued success. - Thank you so much and I so appreciate you bearing with me with my busy schedule. - Absolutely, busy is good in the food world. - Thank you so much, yes it is. [BLANK_AUDIO]