FYI Philly visits Victoria's Kitchen, shops at De' Village and sips tea at Sunday Teahouse
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- TaRhonda Thomas and Nydia Han zip around Philadelphia to highlight entrepreneurs during Black Business Month.
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Bake'n Bacon adds brunch to their bacon-filled menu
We stop by South Philadelphia to see the new brunch offerings at Bake'n Bacon, which features Bacon Egg & Cheese Breakfast Burger, Lemon Blueberry French Toast, and Chicken & Waffles from Chef Justin Coleman.
Bake'n Bacon | Facebook | Instagram
1148 S 11th St, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Victoria's Kitchen & Catering grows soul food business with family
Victoria Tyson started cooking platters at home to deliver to hair salons and barbershops in her neighborhood over 10 years ago.
At the time, she was a hospital technician and mother who was looking to make ends meet.
Today, Tyson oversees a burgeoning business that includes two locations of Victoria's Kitchen & Catering, a food truck, a commercial kitchen, and catering for the new Akwaaba Tea Salon.
Serving all the soul food classics, Tyson and all four of her adult children keep the business running with the base takeout location in the neighborhood she grew up in - West Oak Lane.
Plans are in the works to expand even further with a "meal prep service" for people to have fully-cooked meals for the week delivered right to their door and summer cooking camps for kids.
Victoria's Kitchen & Catering | Instagram
7304 Ogontz Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19138
215-927-1066
250 Sicklerville Road, Sicklerville, NJ 08081
856-516-0495
Find items from around the world at De' Village in Reading Terminal
Joycelyn Parks opened De' Village in 2001 with her late husband, Watson, in the Reading Terminal Market.
"We offer the African clothing. We also offer the African artwork," says Parks of her husband.
She also carries hand-carved works from Nigeria.
When the couple first moved from Tobago in the early 1990s, they opened a shop in The Gallery, which is now known as The Fashion District.
Parks says that back then, their shop had more of a "European style," but gradually they started selling African items.
Now, they carry clothing items, like dashikis, which both men and women can wear.
They have earrings from Kenya and the Philippines, among other places.
There are fun gift ideas, too, like fans made of fabric and leather.
On occasion, she travels in search of items for her shop.
She looks for handmade jewelry, like the bracelets she carries from Ghana.
She also carries natural body care products like shea butter and black soap.
And there's a variety of art.
Parks' daughter, Nikki, now works at De' Village too.
"After her father got sick, she decided to come here and help me with the business," says Parks.
She quit her job in corporate America, ensuring the shop would carry on through the next generation of their family. Parks says she and her husband worked hard to build the business and she knows her daughter will take care of it.
De' Village | Instagram
Reading Terminal Market
1136 Arch St, Philadelphia, PA 19107
Loomen Labs opens zero-waste scent and floral bar in Philly
Jordan Lee Cook, 24, is the owner and founder of scent and floral bar Loomen Labs.
What started as a failed attempt to make a candle for her mother for Mother's Day resulted in her learning the proper way to make candles.
In 2021, she opened a candle shop in Queen Village to teach others the candle-making process.
The Detroit native named all her scents after neighborhoods in Philadelphia to share a sense of community.
Last year she moved her business next door, allowing her a bigger space to teach floral arrangements and an eau de parfum experience.
Loomen Labs is a zero-waste facility that allows you a step-by-step experience to craft your own unique scent.
For each reservation booked a tree is planted in Thailand. You can visit the Loomen Labs to book your desired experience.
Loomen Labs | Instagram
620 S 5th St, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Sunday Teahouse brings family vibes, teas and more to the Shore
Kathy Le opened Sunday Teahouse in the spring of 2024 as a way to enjoy more time with her two daughters.
After years of working with her mom, grandmother and aunts in the nail business, she needed to find an entrepreneurial outlet of her own.
With the help of her husband, she opened Sunday Teahouse, featuring Vietnamese coffee, boba creations and light bites.
Her husband splits time between a full-time job and the shop, making batches of fresh tapioca pearls every three hours for the shop.
There are waffle pops and the Sunday Teahouse version of a waffle cone.
Shaved ice and Vietnamese hoagies pair with fruit teas and milk teas.
Le's daughters spend time at the shop helping along with her non-related "nieces" and "nephews" who help create the family atmosphere at the beach.
Sunday Teahouse | Facebook | Instagram
1018 West Brigantine Avenue, Brigantine, NJ 08203
Mallory's Eats features sweets at the beach
Mallory Stetter is a business owner at age 22.
The young entrepreneur has always been ahead of schedule, graduating early from high school and college.
She grew up in Las Vegas, where she was trained to bake professionally.
During the pandemic, her family moved to New Jersey, where Mallory built her business.
Working out of her family's historic home at first, she built a list of clients with her custom cakes and cupcakes.
She opened a brick and mortar in May of 2023, where she expanded the menu to include oversized cookies with fun flavors like Oreo, Funfetti, key lime and rocky road.
The store features eight cookie flavors with new flavors revealed each month.
Mallory's Eats | Facebook | Instagram
3012 Pacific Avenue, Wildwood, New Jersey 08260
West Oak Lane flower shop has been family-run for over 50 years
If you're looking for flowers for a special occasion, there's a florist in the West Oak Lane section of the city that's been family-owned and going strong for more than half a century.
Altermese Beale still comes in daily to help her family at Paul Beale's Flowers.
"My husband and I opened up this shop in 1971, just the two of us," says Beale.
She founded the business with her late husband, Paul, who convinced her that he could do the arranging for their own shop after managing someone else's business for 16 years.
Two of their daughters run the shop, along with their grandson and great-grandson.
Paul Beale, Sr. and his son do all the floral design work.
"We make all the arrangements from funerals, the weddings, the corsages, birthdays," says Beale, Sr.
She says now they get a lot of requests for roses and lilies in compact arrangements, whereas before, exotic flowers in big arrangements were preferred by customers.
The family says hard work was instilled in them. Paulette Beale says her dad always told them that "people will come as long as you give them good service."
Paul Beale's Flowers
7220 Ogontz Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19138
Beach Plum Farm supplies fresh food to restaurants
On this edition of One Tank Trips, FYI Philly visited a farm in New Jersey.
It's not just any farm, though, as it offers a feast for all your senses.
Beach Plum Farm is a working farm that produces fresh food for local restaurants.
It's located in West Cape May, which is less than two miles from the historic downtown area. It's also about an hour and a half away from Philadelphia.
Action News Photojournalist Dan Sheridan has more in the video above.
Exploring the Delaware with Edge of the Woods Outfitters
Edge of the Woods Outfitters in Delaware Water Gap provides an ideal escape into nature with its scenic river trips along the Delaware River.
Founded in 2007 by Chuck Cooper, the service specializes in canoe, kayak, and raft excursions that cater to families, beginners, and anyone looking to enjoy the serene beauty of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.
Participants can expect a leisurely paddle through crystal-clear waters, perfect for swimming and soaking in the stunning views of the surrounding wilderness.
The journey often features mild rapids, adding a hint of excitement without being overwhelming.
The trip concludes in the town of Portland, Pennsylvania, where visitors can capture breathtaking photos of the Delaware Water Gap from the Portland walking bridge.
Edge of the Woods Outfitters also offers a gift shop where adventurers can purchase souvenirs to remember their day on the Delaware.
Make Edge of the Woods Outfitters your next adventure destination, for an unforgettable day on the Delaware.
'David C. Driskell & Friends' on view at Penn through Sept. 15
The Arthur Ross Gallery at the University of Pennsylvania has a free exhibition, celebrating Black art and the power of friendship.
The exhibition is called 'David C. Driskell & Friends: Creativity, Collaboration & Friendship.'
It was curated by Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, faculty director for the Arthur Ross Gallery in the Fisher Fine Arts Library.
"David Driskell was a painter and a curator," says Shaw. "He was really interested in the history of African American art and he worked with artists, with art historians throughout his lifetime."
More than 20 of those artists are featured alongside Driskell, including Elizabeth Catlett, Romare Bearden and Keith Morrison, a Philadelphia artist.
"All of the works in the exhibition are by African American artists whose careers began in the '50s, '60s and '70s," she says.
Driskell played a key role in bringing African American art into the mainstream through an exhibition he did in the 1970s called 'Two Centuries of Black American Art.'
"It produced a catalog that was one of the key works that really taught people about the presence of Black artists throughout the history of American art," says Shaw.
This current exhibition at the Arthur Ross Gallery has about 40 works.
"There's work from across time, and subject matter and style," she says. "They run the gamut from the 1940s to the early 2000s."
The art was part of Driskell's personal collection.
"He was hugely supportive of many, many different Black artists and they were good friends. Instead of being competitive, they were collaborative," she says.
Driskell worked in different styles.
"He was a real experimenter," says Shaw.
And different themes highlight the relationships he had with other artists.
"We see themes of family, themes of the Black church and religion. In other parts of the gallery, we see African American history. And then in other spaces, we see abstraction and working with color, and space and shape," she says.
With the diversity of artwork, there's something for everyone.
"Relationships between artists can be about making a beautiful world together," says Shaw.
'David C. Driskell & Friends: Creativity, Collaboration & Friendship' is on view through September 15 at the Arthur Ross Gallery in the Fisher Fine Arts Library on Penn's campus.
'David C. Driskell & Friends: Creativity, Collaboration & Friendship' | Free Tickets
Arthur Ross Gallery
220 S. 34th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
