Faith Leads Chicago Woman to Open Restaurant During Pandemic
In October of 2020, stay at home orders and advisories caused the restaurant industry to struggle financially. Some Chicago food businesses, both old and new, became Windy City memories – forced to close their doors while other restaurants tried to use outdoor dining, delivery, and carryout services to keep their businesses afloat.
This was the reality for restaurant owners. And during this time – eight months into the pandemic – this became the reality for Chicago native, Janice Peters, as she opened her first restaurant, Everything Tacos.
“You know what I had more than my concerns? I had faith,” she said with a smile. “I had faith that God had led me in that path and to go ahead and do it.”
Peters, a Christian woman, remembers the biblical story that gave her faith to open a restaurant amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
She recalls the story involving God and Isaac, a patriarch of the Israelites and an important figure in Abrahamic religions. In this scripture within the Old Testament of the Bible, God told Isaac not to leave a town called Gerar; despite the famine within the town. Isaac was obedient to God. And according to Genesis 26:2 — the scripture Peters referenced—"Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him." The restaurant owner explained that similar to Isaac, she wanted to be obedient to God regardless of circumstance.
“I heard God tell me, Isaac sowed in the year of famine. So that means to go ahead and do it, ” she said.
From there the hunt for a space began. Peters noticed a vacant building on the West Side. After learning people that did not live or reflect the West Side community were interested in renting that space, the West Side native decided to pursue the location herself, and eventually that empty space, located at 819 S. Pulaski Rd., became hers.
Restaurant lights are on, and the Everything Tacos Restaurant located at 819. S Pulaski is open to customers. Photo courtesy of owner, Janice Peters.
It became Everything Tacos with the name drawn in large white letters on a sign hanging above the edifice solidifying the deal. Seeing the sign for the first time with her son reminded the Black business owner of her faith.
She said, “I saw it up there. And I thought, there it is! There it is! It's up there, I'm gonna be able to do this.”
Growing up on the West Side of Chicago by the streets W. Gladys Ave. and N. Springfield Ave., the entrepreneur has been around the West Garfield and North Lawndale neighborhoods all of her life. As a kid, she remembers all the Black businesses that thrived there. Record shops, cleaners, restaurants, gas stations – Peters remembers them all, even the success of another local taco joint called Peeple’s Tacos. The aspiring leader believes that this is her chance to not only reflect the community but to inspire the people in the place she calls home.
“Some of those people in that community remember when it all was Black owned, all the way through Madison [Avenue] all the way up the street. And so it [Everything Tacos] let them know that ‘A’ that they can do it, that it isn't too late... no matter your age or what's going on in your life, that there is an opportunity for you to be able to grow or dream,” she said.
Although Everything Tacos opened in October 2020, the journey to opening the restaurant actually began right as the pandemic hit in March of 2020. During the process, the first time business owner quickly realized how difficult it is to launch a business in the city of Chicago.
“They make it hard. They tell you how to get the license, then they go against everything you've ever done in life. If you owe taxes, they block you, you can't do it, because you owe the city one dollar,” she explained. “If you owe a parking ticket, if you have anything against the judgment and things of that nature.”
Aside from securing licenses and figuring out how to pay rent during the pandemic, one of Peters’ biggest challenges within that process was passing the restaurant inspection conducted by the Chicago Department of Public Health. In September of 2020 the inspectors failed Everything Tacos.
“Even with the health department, small things, because I put a shelf up. My sink was too small. And they failed me. I failed my test because my sink was too small,” she said.
The following month, the restaurant passed the second health inspection and was able to open the same month offering customers a variety of tacos.
“But to me it was well worth being an entrepreneur, being that business owner working for myself, being able to employ people from my own neighborhood. And just to be able to make my own coin,” she said.
Shrimp tacos are offered at Everything Taco’s restaurant.
Photo Credit: Everything Tacos Restaurant.
Desiring to keep money within the community, Peters purchases ingredients for her vegan, veggy, shrimp, chilli, and other tacos from local places. Moreover, aware of the surrounding food dessert, she also prepares the food with fresh ingredients at the time the order is placed at the restaurant.
Even though the chef never attended culinary school, Peters refers to her cooking skills as a natural gift from God. The mother also shared that all of her sons are able to cook, and one of them even graduated from culinary school.
“We just have this innate ability to put together spices, ingredients that taste well,” she laughed.
Before starting the restaurant, Peters worked as a community activist for 12 years organizing in the North Lawndale and Austin Area. She has been a social justice advocate that has fought for education, raising the minimum wage in Chicago, collaborating her efforts alongside Black Lives Matter, the Chicago Teachers Union and The Center For Popular Democracy.
Now the organizer hopes her restaurant will act as a beacon of light in her community. Desiring to serve more areas, in the future Peters would like her next locations to be within the Austin neighborhood or on the South Side.
Until that time, the restaurant owner wants the events of 2020 to spark real change. She concluded, “Let's help build up one another... Let's be our brother's keeper? And give someone a hand up.”