“Nashville loves to eat! We love our live music —— and we love to drink! So, we decided that’s what we’d give them. Good food, good music and good alcohol”, said sisters Sandra Austin and Kathy Gibson to Nashville Scene in a recent interview. So far, they have kept their promise to the Nashville community by serving up “The BEST chicken and waffles, great atmosphere and a friendly staff” said one Google reviewer. Besides their heavy soul food menu, every year the sister duo offers the local community an opportunity to sup with them for free for a day.
On November 19, 2020, Shugga Hi Bakery & Cafe will host their 4th annual Harvest Community Meal event and provide free To Go plates to show their appreciation and love to the Nashville community. “We are grateful for the support we receive from the local community and this is our way of giving back”, said Kathy. The event starts at 11 am and will continue until all plates are given out.
According to the sisters, Shugga Hi was created out of a desire to give Nashville the same experience they received from their mother, a full-time nurse that would work long shifts and still cook a full course meal with all the trimmings every night. “We want to share the love we had growing up and we do that through our food”, Kathy said. Last year, the Harvest Community Meal event provided free meals to over 400 Nashvillians from all walks of life. “We had doctors, lawyers, employees on lunch breaks, entire families, including low income families as well as those who were homeless. This year the two are expecting to beat last year’s number.
The Harvest Community meal was designed to be a dine-in experience. However, due to the pandemic and the restaurant’s desire to be Covid responsible by practicing safe social distancing rules, all meals will be packaged in To Go containers this year. Ready for each person to stop by and pick up. “We just want to say thank you”, said Kathy.
It’s no surprise that small businesses have had a difficult and challenging year due to the tornado that ran through Nashville earlier this year in March, Covid shutdowns that came immediately after and the civil unrest protest. Shugga Hi doesn’t plan to allow those events to cancel their annual gift of appreciation to their loyal customers and supporters in the community. The Harvest Community Meal has many contributors and sponsors including Corporate Sponsor The Mortgage Guy.
If you’re in the East Nashville area on Thursday, November 19th at 11am stop by, say hello, grab a free To Go plate and give thanks with Sandra and Kathy.
Aireka Harvell is the founder and CEO of Nodat Inc., small business advocate and thought leader.
