The Enquirer is commemorating Black History Month this year through a TikTok series that highlights different Black-owned restaurants and the modern-day history makers who founded them.
Soul Secrets began as a pop-up restaurant and corporate catering service operating out of Findlay Kitchen in 2018. It quickly outgrew the space and owner Candice Holloway opened a brick-and-mortar location in the vibrant Over-the-Rhine neighborhood in April 2022.
Holloway, a Cincinnati native and 1998 Walnut Hills High School graduate, started Soul Secrets to connect with her daughter, to share family recipes passed down from generation to generation.
“Ninety percent of the dishes that we serve are recipes that have been passed down from my great-grandmother. They’re recipes that I cooked with my own grandmother and shared with my daughter so that we can connect in the kitchen, and we are now sharing it with the community,” Holloway said to The Enquirer.
From roasted chicken to seafood gumbo, baked macaroni and cheese and peach cobbler, Soul Secrets offers a variety of traditional Southern dishes that are staples within the Black community, as well as Holloway’s family.