Soul Tye, the corner food stand changing taste buds and lives
After 13 years of retail work, Tyeisha Odom felt called to do something new. She had enjoyed working directly with clients but felt she had outgrown the job and was ready to do something else she could be passionate about, something a little more entrepreneurial.
This was during the COVID-19 pandemic, so Odom had time to think about what she really wanted to do. "I like to cook: I like the results," Tye said, explaining that she often doesn't feel like cooking is really work. Her grandmother first showed her how to cook; nowadays, she also turns to YouTube to pick up new food preparation ideas.
It all aids her in her new job –– her self-created mobile food business –– Soul Tye LLC . "I like to do what I'm doing: engaging with people," she told the AmNews. "I like the results people get when they taste my food. I like the satisfaction that comes from the stuff that I put out; I like when people taste my food and they're happy."
Odom sets up her mobile food stand at the nexus of Brooklyn's DUMBO and Vinegar Hill neighborhoods, right at the intersection of Bridge and York Streets. It's an ideal spot, down the street from the York Street stop on the F train, and in front of NYCHA's Farragut Houses and the recently renovated Susan Smith McKinney Steward Park . Locals stop by to purchase plates of food from her stand, while tourists and international customers who've trekked across the Brooklyn Bridge to visit the neighborhood's art galleries and waterfront park stumble upon her stand and get an authentic taste of the neighborhood.
Odom was born in Brooklyn and raised in the Farragut Houses, so once she got her Mobile Food Vending License , some of her first clients were from her neighborhood's adjacent buildings. Soul Tye serves a mix of soul food: at various times she'll serve African American, African, Latino, and Caribbean dishes. Now, she also has neighborhood tourists testing out her meals. Recently a group of 20 sightseers visited her food stand. They started out tentatively, ordering slices of her sweet potato cornbread to taste. They liked the cornbread so much that they also placed orders for plates of jerk chicken with sautéed green beans and mac and cheese. "Nearly everybody was ready to order something, then they found out there wasn't that many [options still left]," noted David, one of Odom's assistants.
Another now-regular customer, a recent transplant to the neighborhood, has discovered a new love for fish sandwiches thanks to Soul Tye. The woman had stopped by the stand but proclaimed she did not like flounder and would only eat whiting. After she tried the flounder seasoned by Odom, she changed her mind. "She ended up loving it; she told us to put it on some bread for her, and it turned into an order.
"So I'm out here making nonbelievers, believers," Odom laughs. "That's what we're doing out here, and we're loving it too."
Soul Tye, which started as an entrepreneurial dream in 2021, has grown to the point that Odom can now employ herself and a few assistants. She's hired from within the neighborhood: David and Jayshawn are her two assistants while Niguel Miranda is in training. They all have a good work ethic, Odom said: "They're good with customers and their customer service skills are impeccable.
"They follow my lead. I trained them, and I just told them what my standards are. So, they don't cook –– because I basically cook everything –– but they will monitor the grilled food and stuff."
From in front of the Farragut Houses, Odom says she's watched her neighborhood evolve and noticed that Soul Tye is steadily bringing in customers of all nationalities and races. Ultimately, Odom wants to establish Soul Tye with its own food truck.
"The goal is to be in different locations," she says. "The goal is to be where — you see these young men that hold me down? I want to make a difference in not only my life but others, so they can take care of their families and where they come from. That's my goal. I want to be able to not just give good food back; I want to help my community because I love my community and I love my people.
"I want to continue being my own boss. That's my goal. And I want to continue creating a menu that is unique from anybody else's. And I want to continue just showing love and just making sure I put an imprint on anybody that comes in contact with me. That's my goal."
Soul Tye is open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be reached by phone at 718-415-0129 or by email at
