Adenah Bayoh, an IHOP franchisee and passionate entrepreneur, co-founded fast casual Cornbread Farm to Soul to put a spotlight on soul food favorites.
Along with the restaurant’s signature cornbread, its menu features chef-partner Elzadie Smith’s scratch-made fried chicken, catfish, yams, baked mac and cheese, collard greens and peach cobbler.
Three locations are currently open in the New York-New Jersey area, and now, the partners are on a mission to expand Cornbread through franchising. But as a Black woman and first-generation immigrant, Bayoh is finding it challenging to attract investors and get financing.
Adenah Bayoh
Listen as she tells her story of grit, community commitment, and how she and Smith are embracing the fast-casual model to change the perception of soul food across the country.