The Pittsburgh Dish
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The Pittsburgh Dish
063 Burghade Lemonade puts the Squeeze on Success
(00:57) A disappointing cup of lemonade at the Big Butler County Fair ignited an unexpected entrepreneurial journey for Shiquala Dukes and Vonn Jennings. Their quest for something more refreshing and less sugary resulted in Burghade Lemonade, a business that began as a quick money-making venture but rapidly evolved into something much more meaningful.
The couple shares how they crafted their first batches in summer 2022, focusing on healthier ingredients with less sugar and more fresh fruit. This health-conscious approach resonated immediately with customers, selling out at their very first events. Their product line has bloomed from two initial flavors to seven varieties. Raspberry dominates at Pride events, while Limeade finds its fans in Lawrenceville and the Strip District Terminal.
(15:30) As first-generation business owners, Shiquala and Vonn candidly discuss navigating unfamiliar entrepreneurial waters through programs like Fulton Commons' incubator and Catapult Pittsburgh. Beyond the beverages themselves, Burghade represents something larger: community values, health consciousness, and entrepreneurial inspiration. Their journey embodies their own business philosophy: "Do it scared" and "fail forward."
(34:43) Later in the show, Hal B Klein offers up a dining spot on his day off, and Olive Visco dishes out her mom's eggplant parm recipe, where the summer garden is key. Enjoy!
Welcome to The Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host, Doug Heilman. How did the quest for good lemonade launch an entrepreneurial adventure? Shiquala and Vonn share the journey of Burghade. Where does respected dining critic Hal B Klein go to eat on his day off? We hear it's amazing. And how does a great summer garden amplify this? Eggplant parm, Olive Visco dishes? The details of her mom's recipe? All that ahead, stay tuned. The Pittsburgh Dish is supported by Chef Alekka LLC. If you have a little chef at home looking to grow their pastry skills, check out Alekka's summer camp sessions. Just visit wwwchefalekkacom and look for events to learn more. Now on to the show. Well, thank you both so much for coming over and for being on the show. Would you take a moment to introduce yourselves?
Shiquala:I'm Shiquala.
Vonn:Dukes, I'm Vonn Jennings.
Doug:And what do you both have going on in the world of food and beverage?
Shiquala:We have Burggade Lemonade, so right now we have seven different flavors. It ranges from original limeade, raspberry, mango, pineapple.
Doug:And you're using fresh fruit in all of this.
Shiquala:Yes, yeah, yes, we originally. Well, burghade actually kind of was an accident.
Doug:Really.
Shiquala:It was, this was an accidental business. And then, three years later, here we are, I know for me. I guess I kind of forgot what carnival lemonade tasted like from being a child yes and then what was it? 2022? We went to the Big Butler County Fair yeah and she has excessive thirst very thirsty probably went to every single lemonade stand that the butler county fair had thinking that we were going to have better lemonade and it never happened it never hit Vonn it it.
Vonn:Not only did it not hit, it was like drinking hawaiian punch.
Doug:You know, hawaiian punch makes you thirsty yeah, it's like almost too sugary, right, yeah, and it's hot for for july day oh you can't do nothing with that no, I was getting exhausted from drinking, that's's so strange, but I get you, I get what that is like, and so this was maybe like the, the spark to say we could maybe do this better haven't been.
Shiquala:COVID wore me out, I think that was my tipping tip of the iceberg, I said, yeah, I have to get out and I was kind of looking for something to offset my income and everything else. You know, when something happens and you have shifts in your life, everything just kind of happened and it was like, oh. At first I was like, oh well, let's do slushies. It was the summertime. Then I was looking at slushie machines and I was like, um, what's something that could start like tomorrow.
Doug:Because they could be a little expensive. Yeah, I don't know.
Shiquala:Slushy machines were twelve to two thousand dollars. I was like, oh, I didn't know that. I was like, so what are like the basic? I never thought about the basics of what lemonade is. I mean sugar or whatever water. So I was just like, oh, ok, well, tell me the basics of a recipe and then I'm just going to tweak it until I like it.
Vonn:Yeah.
Shiquala:And that's kind of what happened.
Doug:So you go to the Big Butler fair. You are completely unsatisfied. You're also looking for a pivot in life. When do you create your first lemonade that people buy it? Was it at a fair? Was it like at a family function? Like when did you start creating and offering it to people?
Vonn:so once she came up with the idea, she asked me she's like do you want to do lemonade? And I was like I'm always, I'm the supportive partner. Whatever she wants to do, I'm down. So funny story she likes to call herself the covid lesbian. That's when we started dating, um and she. She was vegan at the time and then went pescatarian and I'm none of that omnitarian yes, so eventually she puts on what's the health on netflix, and I was that was it.
Vonn:That's all I needed so we start caring about what we put in our bodies so then, that mattered for the lemonade. So we just got in the kitchen. We started more like less sugar.
Doug:Yeah.
Vonn:More fruit, especially for melanated skin, like we have diabetes and things like that run, we start caring. People pay for convenience.
Doug:Yes.
Vonn:You know, a lot of us have busy lives. So we went in the kitchen, we came up with the recipes, we cut the sugar, we added the fruit and we did it. Our first event was pride.
Shiquala:Black pride. I love that it was July 30th 2022. All right.
Doug:So you're still I mean, you're still in your early years, but you've come so far. We all met at Fulton Commons and you went through one of the programs there. That's right.
Vonn:Yes.
Doug:Their incubator program, and was that to help understand the business more or how to package your good Like like? What did you get out of that program? Did it help you along your journey?
Shiquala:Yeah, for sure, our we are first generation business owners. I can't say personally that I've ever thought that I was going to be an entrepreneur. I just knew that I wanted to make money. And somehow I landed in a nursing field and that's a whole different story. But when we had the lemonade we weren't taking it seriously.
Shiquala:And.
Shiquala:I didn't have any expectations for Pride and people kept coming back and they were like we love this lemonade, we love it. And we were like, oh, it's just something that we did real fast, you know something, to make some money. And then a couple of weeks later we did soul food festival and we sold out and we were like, oh, people really do like our lemonade. Maybe we should start taking this a little bit more seriously. But at the same time, we don't know how to run a business. We don't know what it entails, we just know how to run a business. We don't know what it entails, we just know how to make lemonade and people are saying that they like it. So there was actually, we were referred to. Her name is Leyshell from Catapult. She referred us to Fulton Commons program and then we took their incubator class and then they have another level, the second level class, which is their accelerator program.
Shiquala:So, we took that and it was an amazing experience. We love them. Over there we're actually doing their farmer's market. I think it's on the 26th of this month too.
Doug:And we're recording in June, so June 26th yeah.
Shiquala:Okay, june 26th We'll be there. Yeah, we learned a lot from that program. We learned they had a bunch of amazing speakers business, how to build your business.
Doug:I think you were there. I was there. Yeah, that's where we met. Well, I got to see your pitch and I thought it was a solid product when you think about where the business is aiming towards or going, like some of your customers like, who are you trying to reach?
Vonn:I love this question. So we want to be the official beverage of the Pittsburgh Steelers, pirates, penguins, pitt In athletics yeah, yes, I love that, like we have Turner's tea, yes. It's a Pittsburgh staple yes, we want to be that Pittsburgh staple.
Shiquala:When you think of brands like Heinz Ketchup. We want people to think of Burghade.
Doug:That way, I think you're onto something. I mean, it is refreshing and delicious. And back to your point, I think what people really want is more wholesome things, but especially in the summertime, like I don't want a big cup of sugar, I want something that is actually rehydrating me. And if you've got some, you know, vitamins and minerals in there from the fruit like that's, that's totally up my alley.
Vonn:Absolutely so. A lot of the festivals and markets that we do, we see that a lot. We see a cup sitting out with a big lemon in it, food coloring and a bunch of sugar and people just walk up and buy it. You get that big cup, but what are you actually buying, right? When do you get a 16 ounce bottle of actual lemonade? That big cup, but what?
Hal:are you actually buying Right.
Doug:When do you get a 16 ounce bottle of actual lemonade? How has it been in terms of creating new flavors or scaling? I'm sure that that was like unexpected that you had so much success at the beginning. So how's it going?
Vonn:So we started off with original and strawberry and then, if you know us, I love flavor, I have to have flavors, so it's a part of the rainbow, in a sense, right.
Doug:Yes.
Vonn:So then I was like mango. She was like okay, and then I looked at her and I said you need another flavor. And I was like I kept trying to get her to like sell her on Limeade and she was not for it.
Shiquala:You're not having it. I wasn't having it, she sold me on all these flavors honestly.
Vonn:Okay, yeah. So I'm like come on, we have to do it, we have to do it. We did a limeade. She actually loves the limeade. Oh, really a lot.
Doug:Wait, are you making limeade now? Mm-hmm, you are.
Shiquala:You may have some Okay. I think I brought you peach lime, actually my favorite flavor, the flavor she didn't know it is, we never know.
Doug:You got to kind of try some things. Yeah, experimenting is good, absolutely so it continued to grow.
Vonn:I was like pineapple oh yeah, we have to give the people what they want, right, and flavors are a thing. So after we went pineapple, she was like I want to do peach, all right, we'll do peach. She finally came. So we ended up with those seven right now and talked about watermelon.
Doug:Oh.
Shiquala:I'm open to watermelon.
Doug:I think even like a mix of melons or whatever. I mean like melon's good yeah.
Vonn:We talked about actually mixing the flavor because a lot of times people come to our booth and are like I want peach, mango, and it's like it's peach or mango. Yeah, you ever think about it, absolutely Uh-huh.
Vonn:Yes, we are we think about it, if you absolutely uh-huh, yes, we are.
Doug:We went to strawberry mango. We want to do that. Yes, so when you have been at, like your most recent festivals, what are some of the top flavors, or is it all over the board?
Shiquala:it depends on the festival, really, yes, so the farmer's markets that we end up doing usually original strawberry, mango are probably our top flavors that sell at farmers market Pride we sold out of raspberry. Everybody wanted raspberry. They were like raspberry.
Vonn:That's what I'm having right now. Yeah, it was like Raspberry, strawberry and mango. Sold out.
Shiquala:That was the best selling flavor. That was the first time raspberry was like our top flavor. I was like, oh, and our original was barely touched first time raspberry was like our top flavor. I was like, oh, and our original was barely touched. So I was like she was like we'll make sure it's the color and it's fun and I was like okay, so it honestly depends on where we are, and it surprisingly depends on what side of the city that we are too.
Vonn:Yeah, because limeade actually did well once at a. What was it? Was it the Lawrenceville?
Shiquala:Yeah, limeade does well in the city.
Doug:Bay 41. Yeah, it's like sits down.
Shiquala:Yeah, that was the Lawrenceville one. Yeah, they love Limeade down there. We never know Limeade sells when we're at markets at the terminal. Yes, that's what it is. That's so funny yeah.
Doug:Yeah, so, funny. Yeah, so you're still in a place where you're like I don't know how much to bring because we don't know what this crowd is like yet. Yeah, I usually ask this later, but let's talk about it now. Where are you going right now, like where can people find you on the regular? Do you go to markets? Do you have some events coming up, like if people are getting thirsty to try?
Shiquala:Yeah, so right now it's summer, so it is our busy season.
Hal:That's right.
Shiquala:Majority of the time, you can follow our social media and it'll show you all the markets that are coming up. Our next market is actually on Saturday markets at the terminal.
Doug:Oh my yeah, this may not be out before that one, but that's okay.
Shiquala:We are actually regulars at markets at the terminal markets at the terminal.
Shiquala:You can find us down there and that's actually how we got our first store opportunity down at Heiber's pharmacy. She tried our lemonade and she's very community oriented. She wants to put local people in her pharmacy. So she found us and she was like we'd love to have Burghade in there. So that has been a wonderful opportunity for us and right now we're pushing to get into more stores around the city, because you can only do so much when there's two people and just trying to reach everywhere.
Doug:Of course, when we're talking about the terminal, we're really talking about the strip district terminal. Folks aren't familiar.
Shiquala:That's where they can find you, yeah.
Doug:And since you mentioned getting into Heiber's, are there any other stores you are getting into right now or that you are in?
Vonn:So we're actually we have a couple of partnerships with a few people believe it or not, One of the guys from the incubator, Thomas Fisk? He actually opened up his coffee.
Shiquala:Hill top coffee.
Vonn:Hill Top Coffee and he wants us in the coffee shop and then, we met a fellow vendor at the market at the terminal. She actually opened up a store around the corner from our house, so we've gotten a few. Hey, we want to put you in our store. That's what we're working towards.
Doug:Is this considered wholesale retail? Is that what people call it in business? Okay, yeah, I love that. And then we do?
Vonn:we do sell, of course, like if you reach out to us through our social media. Uh, we've started doing like pickups and deliveries because we unveiled six packs and gallons. We did our first baby shower last year, which was pretty cool, so we sold our gallons for the first time and that was nice. So we're we're scaling up and we're trying to. As we're scaling up, we're trying to say, okay, doing the festivals it's, it could be a lot.
Vonn:You know, you got to, you got your setup, you got your breakdown you got all the rules and things like that, so it's like they're great, but now we're we're trying to upscale I think markets are great for getting your name out there and having that personal touch.
Doug:People are able to see you and know you. Yes, but I can understand how unglamorous some of it is with all of the behind the scenes stuff to get there.
Vonn:Absolutely, we have to deal with a lot of different stuff, so it's a little harder, but we are. We're bigger than just that. We're a brand and we encourage. One of our things that we love to do is we want to inspire. That's one of the biggest things about Burghade is we woke up with an idea and it's a family business. Our daughter is part owner in it. We have a 15 year old oh and we teach her uh through and her quay's godson. Uh also works a baby joe, it's like 12.
Vonn:so we're teaching like values in it while we run our business and then, at the same time, um, just looking for, like I said, the upscale portion of it and turning this business into a community, something that everybody can be a part of.
Vonn:Like we want a storefront eventually and we want to like you come and it's like like ice, like you're going for ice cream, but it's lemonade instead yeah, and it's a hangout for kids and what we started doing with our tips as well was we want to put together like a scholarship and invest in someone's child if they're entrepreneurship dreams and things like that. So Beargate is bigger than just festivals and markets.
Doug:I love that. I think when we first talked, you had talked about maybe a storefront eventually, and you also have some design aspirations. Is that right?
Shiquala:Yes, an interior designer.
Doug:Yes, Maybe you can do all of it. That could be like your whole thing.
Shiquala:It's like I don't know if this makes sense, so it makes sense Just do it all Anywhere that I can be creative. I'm a creative at heart, so I just I love designing things, I love making things look pretty, I love the way that it makes me feel and yeah.
Doug:It's going to be great for a store. I love what you're saying about how the business is so much more than just a business right. You're doing all these other things and I think it's super inspiring to say we're first generation business owners. If there are folks out there listening to your story, what advice or lessons you've learned would you want to share with other people, like how do you get going, or support, or any of that?
Shiquala:The motto that I always have in my mind, that I hear a lot and it makes so much sense for me is do it scared. Getting into this entrepreneurship journey, I've realized even the most successful businesses they don't know what they're doing either. Businesses they don't know what they're doing either. Nobody knows what they're doing. Everybody's just figuring it out along the way and you're going to make mistakes. But the mistakes at this point I don't even like to classify them as mistakes.
Hal:They're learning lessons? Yeah, nobody knows Right.
Shiquala:Anybody can open up a store and then sometimes the store doesn't work out. Sometimes they're like oh you know, we scale too much, too big. I have businesses that I, that we follow on Instagram and that are my invisible mentors.
Shiquala:I look and I'm like what is working for them, what's not working for them? I see that they opened up a store, but they don't have that store anymore. I wonder what? And I'm not from a nonjudgmental way. I'm like OK, pay attention to things like that, especially the beverage owners. It's just like, OK, they're at markets, but then they're also doing other things, they're also into stores, they're also diversifying their portfolio. Whenever it comes to making income, you can't. We started out with markets and we're like those are fine, but the passive income is really where it's at.
Doug:Yes, I love doing it scared. And what was your term? Invisible mentors? Okay, I want to coin that. I think I have some of those too.
Shiquala:Yeah, they, they. I watched them religiously. I'm like, okay, okay, when are you doing? What are you doing?
Doug:Yeah, yeah, Quay. Thank you so much for that, Vonn. What about you?
Vonn:First and foremost, you need a passion. You need to find what you're passionate about that matters the most. I learned real young that I loved entrepreneurship. So, as I moved into, like Quay said, don't even think about it, you just have to do it. It's kind of similar to working out. We all have aspirations and I don't know about everybody, but I'm a sex symbol. So you have this sexy body, but when you work out you're tearing muscles. That's right.
Vonn:So it's a trial and error you know to build something in the end and make yourself have the body that you would like. So we trial and error. Nobody's perfect. It doesn't matter who you follow, what guru, what you watch. Everybody fails and struggles.
Vonn:I say we hear it a lot, it's so cliche, but fail forward, fail often. I definitely recommend all that You're not going to know until you try it. You cannot be scared. So if you are scared, still just do it. Like Nike said, just do it, because how else is it going to be done? You're going to sit there and you're going to have the what, ifs and the shoulda, coulda, wouldas, and life's just passing you by, and then this grand dream that you had never came to fruition. So, like Quay said, we do a lot of research. Like I said, we're researchers but we're always watching. I definitely recommend, if you see something you like, youtube it, find a podcast, read about it, anything that you can do to make yourself more knowledgeable. And then, if you need the education or if you need a mentor, go get one.
Doug:Yeah, Vonn, thank you for that.
Vonn:Absolutely.
Shiquala:Hi, I'm Shiquala Dukes.
Vonn:And I'm Vonn Jennings and we are Burghade Lemonade.
Doug:And you're listening to The Pittsburgh Dish. I wondered if you guys had mentors that aren't invisible. Is there anyone else that's helped you along?
Vonn:the way in this business. Me personally. It started for me, like I said, pretty young, uh, but my birth mom's mom she made jewelry and she sold it, yeah, and then my aunt she, when fubu first came out, she was selling fubu t-shirts and I was like this is my aunt and I thought it was like the coolest thing ever. Yes, I'm like that's what I want to do. So I watched strong black women make a living, and they were in corporate America as well.
Vonn:And they were making a living off of doing something they loved. So I got to watch it young, as I continue to grow up in it and get further away from and find out like, what is this? Like what is this growing inside of me? Even in high school I actually my graduation project was about entrepreneurship. And when I graduated high school, I wanted to pursue entrepreneurship, so it never left me.
Doug:How interesting, I think, what you're tapping into. A lot of young people don't know where they're going to land or what they're going to do, but the broader term entrepreneurship, it's always been there. Quay, what about you growing up? Did you ever dream?
Shiquala:I'm just getting in my era of being okay with taking risk. Okay, which is so strange because everybody knows me as a very outgoing and adventurous person. I jumped out of airplanes, I went to bungee jump. I do crazy things in that way.
Doug:Not me at all.
Vonn:You don't know how I ended up jumping out of an airplane.
Shiquala:Yeah, I just took her skydiving. She graduated, and so my present to her was skydiving. She graduated, and so her. My present to her was skydiving, because it was such an amazing experience to me it's my motto just do it. Scared, yes, um that's another.
Vonn:She's not telling the good part, though. I didn't know until I got there. Yeah, it was a secret.
Doug:Oh my gosh, I don't know. I just I'm in your shoes right now, vaughn.
Vonn:I'm like I don't know if I could do that it was like like well, she already paid for it, so I have to do it, you have to. Oh, my Greatest experience of my life. Oh, good, good, I was walking on air. Oh my.
Shiquala:That's what I did, for my own self, though.
Doug:Whenever I was like I'm just going to. I love this and I want to even go back a little further and talk about just early life, before this business too. So you're in like this beverage and food world. Now what was food and festivals and stuff like that when you were growing up? Were there any inspiration points there that have led you to today?
Vonn:So I'm originally from Beaver Falls and we didn't have much out there. It was when we moved to Pittsburgh when I was 13. That's when I got the Kennywood and all that good stuff. We had like little carnivals and stuff, so candy apples stuck out to me as a kid but not like lemonade, nothing like just candy apples and cotton candy.
Vonn:Okay, so moving to Pittsburgh, it was more diverse, like Pittsburgh was Disneyland to me, yes, coming from a small town and being country and everything. But once I got here, potato patch fries were a thing, oh yeah, lemonade was lemonade.
Doug:And what was food life like in your household, vaughn Like? Did you cook at an early age? Did people cook for you?
Vonn:Oh yeah, so I was forced to grow up a little quicker than what I wanted to or should have. Um, at nine years old, I was cooking steak, mushrooms and onions, and so, being the eldest girl of uh, there's four of us I have an older brother and then I'm the oldest girl right under him um, I had to take care of my two little sisters. Okay, so eventually, watching your mom work a full-time job and take care of four children on her own, and seeing the struggle, it instilled maturity in me a little quicker to where.
Vonn:I wanted to step up and I did so. I would start cooking for the house and I made her steak. And when she said my steak was better than her steak, then I knew I was on to something. You were on to something I fell in love with cooking. So at that point it's been even now I love to cook.
Doug:I also want to tie back to your determination to make the lemonade healthier. Is that something that also carries through, like with your cooking, like you know, whether it's for your family or yourself, or athletics?
Vonn:It does. Health is wealth.
Vonn:And we hear it, it's cliche, but it's actually like really serious. I was in a car accident back in 2022 where a guy was in a rush during rush hour, rear ended me and he has caused a herniated bulging disc in my L5 that I'm still dealing with today. I had seen a holistic chiropractor for that. Uh, he taught me a lot about how cold is better than warm. So in in just dating quay and her instilling the veganism with plant-based we'll say plant-based, because I still eat seafood I can't give it up but, uh, we, we live a plant-based lifestyle.
Vonn:Then we went and took it further. It's not just what we eat, it's what we're putting on our bodies. Like we use all natural shea butters and things like that. You really have to care about what you have going on health-wise, because Quay's a nurse, her brothers are pharmacists and they both are very educational when providing that those pieces of because I asked the question. I'm always asking questions why is science getting like, like we have all these new medical devices and things, but people are still dying of cancer and it seems like it's younger and younger. Why isn't it? And I asked those questions and they told me you know, it's this, it's that, it's this, it's that.
Vonn:So it became something real prevalent for me, like noting, noticing that people pay for convenience. And I live a busy lifestyle. Like I said, I'm an actor and a model. We own Brigade, I do real estate, I'm in developing, I'm also about to become a lender. The list goes on. For me, so I'm busy, life is busy for me. I don't always have the time. So a lot of times when you're spending money, you're paying for somebody else to do it because you don't have the time.
Vonn:If don't have the time, if you're going to pay for somebody else to do it, you want it done right, and that's where we come in.
Vonn:I like the point, too, of everything that goes in and on our bodies affects us, and so, whether that's inflammation and long-term health and so you all have tapped into that with creating a drink or beverage. That is on the better side of all of that Clay. What about you? Where did you grow up in, and what was food life like in your early years?
Shiquala:I'm from McKeesport All right. I spent my life in the kitchen watching my mom and grandma cook. My house was that house that everybody came over for holidays. Thanksgiving my mom and my grandma. If you know my family, everybody loves their food. We were the hub house. My mom and my grandma if you know my family, everybody loves their food. That's, we were the hub house. Um, and that. I was never interested in cooking, though I was always just yeah, I'll peel the potatoes.
Hal:I'll clean up, but I never wanted to be the domesticated woman.
Shiquala:Yes, it just. It never interested me in that way.
Doug:And let me just interject there. So now you're in this world where you're in sort of food and beverage with the lemonade. Did you ever imagine that that would happen?
Shiquala:No, I never thought that I would be, never thought that I'd be making any sort of beverage, lemonade, any food, any, anything. It never crossed my mind. Honestly, I really wanted to. I sold myself short a lot Whenever I was in my younger years. I truly wanted to be an astronaut. That was my. I had stars, my room, I was. I want to be an astronaut and not convince myself that I couldn't because I wasn't good at math. Don't ever sell yourself short. Go for everything that you want to. So in a sense, Burghade has put me on a path to redeem myself, and it wasn't what I planned for, but it makes me feel good. It challenges me, it allows me to take risks. It still gives me that momentum to be a better person every single day.
Shiquala:But entrepreneurship wasn't a thing in my family. It was. We grew up I don't like to say poor, but because I didn't go without. I had everything that I needed, Um, but I always wanted more and my mom did the best that she could, and I love that, and she always. She did do corporate life, but she always had a little sad hustle going on. She had to, she had four kids and her income alone just wasn't enough, Um. So I saw my mom go out and do what she needed to do to take care of us, especially around the holidays Christmas time and school time and I didn't like that. My mom didn't have freedom. She spent a lot of time at work and, thankfully, we had a great community. We had my grandma, we had my aunts. I grew up with my cousins. It was they're over our house, we're over their house, and that's another reason why we really inspire to push community when it comes to Brigade, I grew up. All I know is community.
Shiquala:I was raised by it.
Vonn:So yeah, quay knows community I don't, and I actually long for it. I crave it. Was it because of the move from? No, my family's just not like that. We're a dysfunctional, generational trauma family. So I long for community and she had it. So this is community based.
Doug:Yes, well, I think entrepreneurship is not selling yourself short now, and it's what makes sense for both of you, absolutely. I would love to ask where you see the business going? What's next?
Shiquala:So right now we're actually in the Catapult Entrepreneurship cohort, okay, and we've been in that for a few weeks now and it actually ends in August. That has been an amazing experience. It has really set the ground for building a solid foundation with Burghade and learning so many different things as far as business literacy and how to balance our checkbook. That's like an old school and marketing and it's just an amazing program. We also loved Fulton Commons, but Catapult has really taken learning your business and operating your business to a different level that I didn't even know was possible. So right now, we love to do festivals, we love to do markets, but we also want to move into the catering industry, really teaming up with the caterers. Every time you go to a place and they have foods that's catered. Let's just say Chipotle. You go, you're at your job and there's Chipotle, and then there's just a regular drinks there's Coca-Cola, there's Pepsi, there's water. We want to change that narrative.
Vonn:People forget about drinks.
Shiquala:Don't fall off at the beverage we're here we're here. We're here, so we definitely want to tap into that market as well as um learning what we need to do legally to get into stores there. There's a lot of legalities behind making sure that we're doing the right things.
Doug:We we want to do everything the way that we need to do it, yeah, from cottage to packaging, to having to have a commercial space to do those things.
Vonn:Right, there's a lot to it. Nutritional labels yes, yeah.
Shiquala:So that has been a learning curve for us. So our main objectives right now is starting to team up with catering businesses, as well as getting into more retail locations.
Doug:I did want to give a little plug to Catapult Pittsburgh too, because they do so much I don't even know how to quantify all of their work. But it's an organization based here and they just they help in so many different ways.
Vonn:It's in my life more than just Burghade. Tammy Thompson is amazing. I have to say that, yes, she is, and I'm not saying it just because she really is. Like, what she's doing for community, what she's doing with the Catapult program, is amazing, but I also work with them in real estate as well.
Doug:And Tammy is the president and CEO of catapult. Yeah, all right.
Shiquala:Tammy is actually. Vaughn doesn't even notice, but she's one of my invisible mentors. The way that she runs her business is the way that I aspire Burgate to be ran it's it's almost flawless and I know that there's no business that is flawless, but for me, being on the outside looking in, I love the way that her business shows up in the community and at every event it's. It's wonderful.
Doug:She's not invisible now anymore. No, she's not invisible mentor, she's she is my mentor, she may not, she may not know that but.
Vonn:I look up to Tammy. I've had some really great conversations with her and her best friend, who's also my broker, mary Hester Amazing women. What they're instilling in the community, what they're doing, the model is phenomenal. I feel like if they wrote a book, all businesses would be successful, and I mean that because of what they had, the knowledge and how they go about it.
Doug:Like Quay was saying Catapult is like no other folks need to check out catapult Pittsburgh, and I think you've got us all thirsty for more, so let's also give listeners where they can find you online. What are the social handles or Facebook or whatever you're using right now?
Shiquala:So we're basically on all our socials and they're all brigade lemonade. Uh, our Instagram is Burghade underscore Lemonade. You can find us on Facebook. Backslash Burghade Lemonade. We're on X. We're on all of our social media platforms LinkedIn you can find us everywhere.
Doug:I just want to give a description to it's Burgh like Pittsburgh B-U-R-G-H-A-D-E. Yes, burghade Lemonade.
Shiquala:All right, I H-A-D-E.
Doug:Yes, burgade, lemonade, all right. I think I have jokingly said to one of the two of you or maybe it was both of you if you get into sports drinks, then Gatorade and you're going to be like Burgade. Yeah, that would be good.
Shiquala:I love our name, we'll definitely win. I feel like Burgade is so Pittsburgh.
Hal:I love it, it kind of just came to me.
Shiquala:I was like, I just feel like, you know, we just need a good name, the good name to get us in the door.
Shiquala:What is it?
Shiquala:going to be and something that represents Pittsburgh, and it kind of just popped in my head and I was like we're going with it.
Doug:When you said you wanted to be like Heinz. I think it works. You've got the hometown right in the name, so go for it. All right, Quay Vonn, it's been so great to talk with you. I always have one more question for our guests. The name of the show is The Pittsburgh Dish.
Vonn:What's the best dish that you've had to eat this past week? Okay, so Judel's. Listen, I hope y'all's listening. Actually, turn your ear up, turn your hearing aid up. Judel's actually cooks out of Eon in Homestead. Okay, I think it's Tuesday, wednesday, thursday, and then she does a lit cigar lounge in Homewood, I think. Brunch on Sundays I had deep fried crab legs.
Doug:Oh, I'm going to just leave that right there. My best bite this week. Say it to me again Udell's, judell's, judell's, judell's. So Quay at Judels. Did you have the same? Did you have the fried crab legs or did you have something different?
Shiquala:no, I had the vegan steak hoagie mushroom cheese steak hoagie the mushroom the vegan mushroom cheese steak hoagie. I made her go back to get me some food. That's how good the french fries were good. You can only do so much for french fries the french fries were great the mushroom cheese steak.
Vonn:oh amazing, you get a bang for your buck, and I mean a serious bang, for you have enough food and it's so flavorful.
Doug:All right, people need to search this out.
Shiquala:I've had her food at a couple catering events and every single time I'm like who made this? Who? Made this Her food's great.
Doug:Best bites this week. Vonn Quay, thank you both so much. It's been such a pleasure to talk with you and thanks for being on The Pittsburgh Dish. Thank you for having us.
Shiquala:Yes, thank you for having us so grateful. You have been an amazing person that we have met. Last year and you came and you reached out to us and you said that you would love to have us on there and we are just so grateful for that.
Vonn:I'm so grateful to meet you. I love what you're doing. Yes, thank you. Thank you Really appreciate it.
Doug:Up next. Where does senior food writer and dining critic, Hal B Klein, grab a bite when he's not working his normal beat? Let's have a listen. Hey everybody, we're joined together with Hal B Klein from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Hal. Last time we were here we talked about all of your food writing and the adventures you do. I was wondering when you're maybe having a day off and you just want to go get a bite at a restaurant you love, is there one or two places that always come to mind?
Hal:Yeah, I mean there are a few. The place that always comes to mind the most when I'm just like when I get together with a couple of friends is Amazing Dumplings over in Squirrel Hill. Squirrel Hill yeah, I really love the owners there. They're a couple from northern China, like far northern China, and it's been exciting to watch and kind of participate in their journey over the years. They used to call their restaurant Sakura teppanyaki and sushi and it was confusing because they had all this like hodgepodge on the menu and then mixed in with it where these like Northern Chinese dishes which were the ones that they really wanted to make. Yes, then a couple of years ago, the husband got ill and Fan Ping started making dumplings even more as almost like a process of like grieving or like dealing with dealing with it.
Hal:Yeah, and he's better now and he's in the kitchen, oh good and it's great, and you know they share cooking duties now and their food is just. It's so beautiful. Um, she's become an artist.
Doug:Um, like she's sometimes like they're folded and there's color.
Hal:Yeah, she's like making vegetable dyes, like everything is naturally dyed, like in-house, and she's like folding. She showed me how she made like all these colors once and it's like rolling these like almost like play-doh colors together into like this like. But she's also like carving flowers out of vegetables. It's this like very. It's weird because it's like in your face in one way, but it's also very understated, but I just I love just going in there and it's like it just feels like like going to like a family house almost at this point.
Doug:What a combination of like a small, tight-knit family with a great story and beautiful food, but then you're also sort of tapping into art in a way. I've seen their Instagram feed and I haven't visited yet, so now it has to be on my list.
Hal:Yeah, you got to go. It's great. It's one of. Yeah, their Instagram is one of my favorites in the city.
Doug:Are there a particular one or two bites that you love there that you always order again and again?
Hal:The hot oil sesame dumplings are incredible.
Doug:Is it like a finishing oil that sizzles on top?
Hal:Yeah, and it's like there's heat to it, there's like the nuttiness from the sesame. It's just such a great dish, all those flavor notes, handpulled noodles, like my comfort food dish which I don't know if this would be the dish that I would order the first time I was there, but for me it's the comfort food dish is these handpulled noodles with tomato and egg. Oh yeah, it's like a very Chinese dish, it's so. It's like a rainy day dish that you're just like everything is cool, everything's going to be great, everything's going to be fine.
Doug:Yeah, I love that. Well, we're talking about amazing dumplings over in Squirrel Hill. Hal, thanks so much for the recommendation and thanks for being on The Pittsburgh Dish. Absolutely, you can follow Hal on Instagram at Hal B Klein. Have you harvested anything yet from your garden this summer? For me, the basil is already going crazy. Olive Visco of Polska Laska, shares her mom's eggplant parmesan recipe, where the summer garden is key. Hey everybody, we're talking today with Olive Visco of Polska Laska. Olive, on the everyday, you're making a lot of great Polish food and you mentioned about your family having some different heritage. I think your mom has some Sicilian roots. Is that right?
Olive:It sure is yes.
Doug:So is there anything that she makes that you would probably never make for Polska Laska that you love?
Olive:Yeah, and honestly, I was like I want to put this on the menu when I was trying to figure it out. But, um, so my mom makes eggplant Parmesan and it's just like to die. It's so good. It's my favorite thing that she makes and, um, so, yeah, so it's she does like a batter, fried eggplant. So, it's not like a crispy.
Olive:I mean there is crisped to it, but it's not like a breadcrumb yeah uh, it's batter fried eggplant, and then I mean, this is like a beautiful summer dish that she does. So she has always had a beautiful organic garden and you know so, like her fresh tomatoes, her fresh basil, um, you know things to kind of give it a little more, you know is like a bell pepper or a caper, um, and yeah, and she just like she layers it with, you know, parmesan and mozzarella, and again she also, I mean, she adds whatever is available to you mostly just in her garden, so maybe spinach or you know a different kind of herb that she has at the time.
Doug:Just as another layer.
Olive:Yeah, exactly Exactly, and yeah so, and so you know it's batter, fried eggplant, the fresh, you know, fresh summer tomato sauce that she makes basil, let's say bell pepper, let's say, you know, maybe capers, and yeah so she just does like, depending on the thickness, two to three layers of all of that goodness in a bake dish, pops it in the oven, um, and she like serves it usually with her like caesar salad. This is like my like, this is like if I am on death row like this is what I want to eat.
Hal:I want to eat a caesar.
Olive:I would eat a like spicy too much garlic, caesar salad and my mom's eggplant Parmesan, and it's better like the next day cold.
Doug:Oh well, I love that. I mean, it sounds like the best death row meal ever, but you're also bringing us into summer, so if somebody has like garden freshness or great access to that, uh, I think the idea of serving it hot or cold could be great. Absolutely, Olive. Thanks so much for the recipe and thank you for being on The Pittsburgh Dish.
Olive:Thank you.
Doug:Be sure to visit Olive at her Polish diner Polska Laska in Sharpsburg. Do you have a recipe? Share it with us. Just visit our website at wwwpittsburghdishcom and look for our Share a Recipe form. If you enjoyed the show, consider buying us a coffee for this episode or supporting the show monthly. You can find links to those options at the bottom of our show description, and if you want to follow my own food adventures, you can find me on social media at Doug Cooking. That's our show for this week. Thanks again to all of our guests and contributors and to Kevin Solecki of Carnegie Accordion Company for providing the music to our show. We'll be back again next week with another fresh episode. Stay tuned.
