Inspired by a vacant restaurant, Alyson Williams and Yusef Walker decided they wanted to make and sell pizza. Never mind the friends-turned-business partners had little background in the art of the pie.
“I had to learn to make pizza first. That was the first challenge,” said Walker, 30, who grew up in Queens and came to Atlanta seven years ago to help his brother open Negril Village and, later, Ms. Icey’s Kitchen & Bar. He’d been looking for a solo project, and Williams, a Stone Mountain native and Howard University graduate who’d worked at Negril and Ms. Icey’s, wanted a restaurant of her own.