A Kincardine business owner is hoping to open her new restaurant with the help of a contest.
The owner of the Cheesy Monkii food truck, Lauren Morris, is hoping to get votes and advance in a contest of entrepreneurs.
Morris had entered the Entrepreneurs of Impact contest through Forbes Magazine, which has a top prize of $25,000.
She says that if she wins that top prize, it will help her pay for a new mosaic tile pizza oven for her brick-and-mortar business in Kincardine – a Mediterranean-fusion cafe.
The new cafe is called L’Aquila, which is the name of the province in Italy where her mother’s family originates. She says that she’s excited to be able to bring some of her family’s culture to Kincardine.
“My heritage is Italian, and my cooking style is a lot more different than what I’m doing out at the truck because I acquired that business originally and then just crafted everything so it would be more premium to make it my own.”
While designing her new location, she started working with Nella Cutlery out of Hamilton, Ontario, which led to the idea of acquiring the big pizza oven, which she intends to use for fire-grilled sandwiches as part of her new menu.
Morris says she’ll continue to own and operate the Cheesy Monkii Food Truck, which is located at the Kincardine Municipal Airport at 1987 Highway 21.
“I’m still planning on continuing to run the food truck because it is so incredibly successful, and I wouldn’t want to see the community lose that kind of novelty shop,” she says. “I am more than excited and more than passionate. I’ve been, for lack of a better term, flipping burgers for seven years and to be able to bring this kind of business model into our small community is going to be so amazing.”
The build for the new cafe is expected to start in March of this year, and once the facility is fully equipped, the plan is to be up and running in the spring. Morris says they’re hoping for April, depending on permitting, but should be open no later than May 2025.
You can find the link to vote through the Cheesy Monkii Facebook page, or by clicking here. Voting to make the Top 15 ends on February 6th.