Local Business Spotlight is proudly supported by EPB and The Pulse. If you're a local business owner and would like your business to be highlighted for our weekly spotlight, click here to tell us about you and your business.
Serendipity. That’s when something wonderful happens by chance. Then there’s synchronicity — when things come together in an eerie way. Put together the serendipity and synchronicity around The Big 9 Street Food, and you’ll conclude this new business is destined for greatness.
Though owner Dvon Maples located and performed renovations on the building that would house The Big 9 Street Food back in 2020, he only just held his grand opening this year. June 19, 2021 — Juneteenth. Since this propitious opening, he’s already busy with repeat business, as well as plenty of new business.
The first bit of serendipity: Maples knew the building owners at 611 East MLK, and they suddenly had a unit with a commercial kitchen come available. A go-getter, Maples took the keys and got to work on the needed repairs.
Then comes the synchronicity. Maples didn’t know what to call his business, so he started walking through the neighborhood asking people in the area. Five or six folks mentioned The Big 9, so that’s what he named the business.
Still, a great name and a timely opening don’t always equal repeat business. What keeps people coming back? Why did The Big 9 Street Food start off on such a high note?
“It’s the food,” Maples says.
The culinary creation of co-owner and head chef Matthew David, The Big 9 Street Food is a new fusion of soul food with the international street food that David encountered as the child of a military family. A trained chef with long experience in the restaurant business, David created a new brand of cuisine specific to The Big 9.
“When he was overseas, he saw people cooking food in the street, right in front of the customer,” Maples explains. “When we decided to open a business, that’s where we got the 9th Street food concept from.”
The Big 9 Street Food is a new twist on an old style: hand-held food in the flavorful tradition of southern chicken, seafood and barbecue. They offer shrimp tacos, steak tacos, chicken tacos, hot dogs, sausages, pulled pork sandwiches and much more, all packaged to be carried away and eaten while you walk.
“We cook most food outside on the grill, smoke it or grill it,” Maples says. “Most food you can grab and walk, especially if you’re a tourist.”
There’s no inside seating, but if you want a more leisurely meal, The Big 9 Street Food has you covered. Take a seat at their outdoor bar and sip a glass of ice-cold lemonade, enjoy a pork belly pate or chop plate, and watch the world go by.
“We play jazz or old-school soul music for customers to enjoy,” Maples says.
The business is completely family run for a truly authentic environment, right in the middle of the bustling city. Dvon Maples and Matthew David may have created the perfect business model for the renovated Big 9 district — perfect for tourists and locals alike.
The Big 9 Street Food
- 611 East Martin Luther King Blvd.
- Tuesday: 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
- Wednesday–Thursday: 11 a.m.–8 p.m.
- Friday–Saturday: 11 a.m.–9 p.m.
Visit the-big-nine.business.site to see the menu and place an order and be sure to give them a like on Facebook at facebook.com/TheBig9StreetFood