Meet Derrick Williams | Serial Entrepreneur and Therapist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Derrick Williams and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Derrick, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Instantly you can see that the name would draw the attention of many. I knew the responses I would get, no offense to anyone but I knew that some black people would scold me and a lot of white people would find it funny. There was already a lot of extra going on when I started my business and I did it to allow for conversations and to show just how contact with people eliminates the negative thoughts. It’s perfectly fine for someone white to “think” about having some good chicken and a nice and sweet watermelon but if they say it out loud and more importantly say it together they could be in a world of trouble. Does that really make much sense?

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m not artsy or creative. In getting our logo done I go online and get with a company and let them do a few designs and when I see it, I know that’s it hence my cool logo. The creative juices just stem from the desire to push the line and it comes through in the names of our menu items. Of course this was a tough journey. At the age of 40 we moved to the metroplex because of hurricane Katrina and while insurance took care of some things it couldn’t put back the fact we lost our entire existence as we knew it. Having to navigate so much just to get settled and having kids in school, family back and forth and on top of that, me and Kelly both traveled back and forth to New Orleans to work in the beginning—-by car most of the time. How that ties into my brand and story? A lot of what you do as a person won’t make sense to a lot of people but I know that when a customer comes in the door or call and I answer the phone and greet them there’s always a chuckle. That in turns fuels a chuckle inside of me.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
The metroplex offers so so much and in all my years of living here not to mention that in the 80’s when I was in college I used to come here all the time with my college buddies, I haven’t seen much outside of my immediate surroundings and that’s by choice. So if my best friend were in town we’d take in a couple nice restaurants, Del Friscos Grille for a nicer chilled out evening, maybe some day drinking. We’d also do dinner at Perry’s in Grapevine. And he’s a bar guy like me so we’d take in the local bars I frequent. I have a circuit I take in most of the time and then I have some really cool friends who have made us feel like family to them and I’m at their place most Sundays, so he’d get to take in a Sunday Funday. Sorry if it seems boring but I promise it’s a cool time.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Well me and my wife are the parents of 6, yes 6, lol. She’s worked nights as an NICU nurse for almost the entirety of our marriage and she still manages to help me with a lot as far as our specialty dishes that requires her touch. So she gets a huge shout out and of course our 4 boys and 2 girls are inspiration as well. They definitely deserve credit for helping along this journey.

Website: www.chickenandwatermelonfool.com

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