Columbia vegan soul food cafe grew despite COVID. Now, a new way to order your meal
After nearly two years of waiting to renovate and open her own new restaurant space, Folami Geter finally opened the doors to A Peace of Soul Vegan Kitchen on Columbia’s north Main Street.
And then she promptly shut them.
The excitement of the opening in February 2020 was quickly washed away by the anxiety of March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic swept the nation and hurled countless businesses into months of uncertainty and panic.
But despite the challenges wrought by COVID-19, A Peace of Soul’s popularity managed to grow at a time when many small businesses were afraid they might shut down (and many did). Online orders, deliveries, an ever-growing social media following and a food truck that spread Geter’s food and reputation across the Southeast helped raise A Peace of Soul’s star.
Now, with business as strong as ever, Geter is taking one more long-delayed step in the reopening progress of her restaurant. On Saturday, A Peace of Soul began allowing in-person walk-in orders for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
“Our customers have been troopers,” said Geter, who took over her father’s Lamb’s Bread vegan restaurant several years ago before reinventing it as A Peace of Soul. “We definitely had some lows, but nothing that would knock us out completely. Thankfully, we have a community of folks who love and support us. We’re such a niche — it’s 100% plant-based.”
Known for Geter’s famous vegan fried chicken — which, despite the chef never having eaten real fried chicken in her life, tastes remarkably like (if not better than) actual fried chicken — A Peace of Soul serves up a variety of surprisingly plant-based dishes six days a week. Mac and cheese, spare ribs, burgers, crab cakes, collards, fries, cakes, cheesecakes and more, all made without any animal-derived products.
“I speak for myself and the other local businesses that devote themselves to being completely plant-based: We are making a sacrifice by not selling what is popular and most accepted,” Geter said. “It’s awesome for the vegan community that all these fast-food restaurants have plant-based options, but in all of that, we have to make sure to support the businesses that go a step further and don’t cross-contaminate.”
A Peace of Soul is easily in the minority of local restaurants and businesses that have stuck with carryout and delivery only this far into the pandemic. But that decision doesn’t seem to have hurt the restaurant’s popularity.
In fact, thanks to A Peace of Soul’s successful food truck — which preceded the brick-and-mortar restaurant and continues to travel to cities around the Southeast, building a bigger and bigger fanbase — the restaurant’s brand seems to have only blossomed over the past two years. Its following on social media, where the restaurant posts its daily menu items and food truck updates, has exploded, with tens of thousands of fans.
Online-only ordering has been a success for the restaurant these past two years. Opening up in-person walk-in orders is just a small extra step. Geter still doesn’t see indoor dining anywhere on the horizon for A Peace of Soul, for a number of reasons, including its limited parking area and lingering concerns about what future curveballs COVID could throw.
“Who knows when the next variant is coming and they’ll say, ‘Close it all down again,’” Geter said. “Having to shift so often is not the easiest thing.”
However, she’s looking forward to adding some outdoor dining space soon.
A Peace of Soul Vegan Kitchen is located at 2338 Main St. in Columbia. It is open Monday through Saturday, with occasional Sunday brunches. Its rotating menu is updated daily at apeaceofsoul.com.
This story was originally published February 25, 2022 at 1:44 PM.
