| A KITCHEN + KOCKTAILS BY KEVIN KELLEY |
| A Kitchen + Kocktails by Kevin Kelly served 200 children at its East Trade Street site and showed them possible careers in the hospitality industry. |
A Charlotte restaurant is giving young people an opportunity to learn of the hospitality business during the holidays.
A Kitchen + Kocktails by Kevin Kelley Charlotte partnered with the Greater Enrichment Program to serve children from kindergarten to fifth grade with an up-close experience.
“It provides these young individuals with an exciting opportunity to dine at a restaurant they’ve never visited before, and it opens their eyes to potential career paths in the hospitality industry,” said Aijah Dawson, the restaurant’s sous chef. “Throughout the experience, management and chefs engaged the children in hands-on activities centered around food, helping them broaden their horizons and spark new interests.”
During the event the children helped make waffles for their peers at a chef-assisted waffle station. The restaurant received donations from U.S. Foods and Ben E Keith to make the outing possible.
Greater Enrichment Program is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing out-of-school educational programs.
“Aja and I collaborated together with this initiative for this particular program and presented to our leadership team to give back for the holiday season,” said Natasha Roberts, the restaurant’s assistant general manager.
For Dawson, this mission is personal as she used to volunteer at the non-profit organization when she was a student at Johnson C. Smith University.
When asked why she decided participated, Dawson said “Because the company does community involvement and giving back in our other cities’ locations. With us being the newest location, we are spreading the love.” 
A Kitchen + Kocktails is a Black-owned Dallas-based company with other locations in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Chicago. They specialize in southern food and the Charlotte location opened this year at 201 E Trade Street.
According to the company’s website, Kelley is a serial entrepreneur who opened his launched the venture after missing the food that “reminded him of home” while he was living in Paris. Kelley opened his first location in Dallas in 2020.
Dawson said all Kelley-owned restaurants give back throughout the year to their local community, with the Charlotte location planning to host similar events in the future.
“We will continue to give back to the community throughout the year in numerous ways,” she said.
