Restaurant ownership is not for the timid. The estimated chance for a U.S. restaurant to succeed is only about 20%, according to the National Restaurant Association.
Occasionally, a restaurant closes but the popularity of its food stays high. A good local example is T’s Restaurant, which opened in the 1950s but closed after a 2020 fire. Today, T’s runs a thriving catering business and serves an abridged menu from its blue food trailer at 3720 Mike Padgett Hwy., the site of the damaged restaurant.
So when Janeé and Kaila Sutton opened Marie’s Caribbean Creole inside Soultry Sounds Ultra Lounge at 1035 Ellis St. in August 2023, they anticipated rough patches. For the past three years, the couple had slowly built a take-away food business from a roadside tent in Columbia, S.C., to a food truck and a thriving catering business.
Janeé used her years of culinary experience to assemble a menu of French- and Latin-inspired dishes that are flavor-packed whether you’re ordering a single meal or an entire steam table tray full for a special event. Kaila put her marketing power to use by capitalizing on their foods’ growing popularity at farmers’ markets, community festivals and other pop-up food truck events.
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However, after just a few months, the Suttons left the lounge and pivoted back full-time to where they built their following in the first place – on the road.
The name is a bit different: Marie’s Creole and Catering. The fresh, robust quality of the food, thankfully, is the same.
The menu can change slightly but not too often. That way, customers can return to their favorite go-to meals, such as the jerk chicken tacos or the grilled-not-fried island jerk wings. Slowly smelling the marinade might be the best way to prepare your taste buds for the Caribbean micro-vacation the foods consistently provide.
Marie’s also conducts special events. There might be one drawback to the Mother’s Day Brunch that Marie’s is planning for May 12: The menu isn’t filled with Creole temptations. However, bottomless mimosas help complement the classic brunch menu.
Choices include lamb chops, turkey bacon, shrimp and grits, salmon croquettes, breakfast potatoes, collards, fresh fruit, assorted cheese, cheesecake tarts and assorted desserts. Breakfast meals include Southern-fried chicken tenders, butter rum waffles, vanilla French toast with strawberry compote and a station to order custom-created omelets.
The brunch will be from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 12 in the White Oak Room of Savannah Rapids Pavilion in Martinez, 3300 Evans to Locks Rd.
Readers with questions about the Marie’s food truck’s next location or about catering for an event can call (803) 215-2333 or email [email protected].