Sweet Southern Soul bids farewell

December 30th, 2008 at 02:58pm Sean Driscoll

The latest effort to bring a soul food restaurant to College Avenue didn’t stick. Judy Johnson, the maven of River District Catering, opened Sweet Southern Soul in the Campus Square shopping center at College Avenue and Seminary Street on Sept. 3. She’s closed the restaurant, however, saying that the economy and negative perception of the neighborhood as crime-ridden were too much for her to overcome.

“We never could get it up and running,” she said.

Johnson’s catering business is still operating out of the former restaurant location, and she’s turning to new uses for the space. First, she’s renting out the kitchen on a part- or full-time basis to people who may need commercial kitchen space but don’t want to go to the expense of setting one up. Second, she’s renting out the dining space for meetings, wedding receptions and other social gatherings.

“We’re trying to figure out how to take the things we have in place and figure out new ways to market and use them,” she said.

Entry Filed under: closings