EAST ORANGE, N.J. (PIX11) — Ryan Kundan, 17, of East Orange, is preparing for the grand opening of his first restaurant, Everything Nice with Spice, on North Harrison Street in East Orange, New Jersey.
Kundan, a third-year student at the Newark School of Fashion Design, is opening a Caribbean restaurant on Saturday with his mother, Shabana Kundan, who will be the main chef. The menu will feature all the flavors of Shabana’s homeland, Guayana.
“I have been cooking since I was 18 years old,” says Shabana Kundan.
“You see the same restaurants everywhere,” Ryan Kundan said. “It always seems like there’s a Jamaican restaurant or a Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood, but you never see a Guayacan restaurant.”
The opening of Everything Nice with Spice was made possible thanks to a business course Ryan completed at Essex County Community College at the recommendation of his high school principal.
Community advocate and entrepreneur Dr. Jamila Davis teaches the program called “Boss Up.”
“It’s a 10-week teen entrepreneurship program,” Davis explains, “and it teaches teens the fundamentals of business.”
Davis helped Ryan and Shabana through the process of opening their restaurant.
“It’s not easy starting a business,” Davis said, “You have to get your CO, you have to get permits. There was a lot of stuff that had to be done. So I helped them get through some of those things.”
Ms Davis said Ryan was one of her outstanding students and she believed his success would inspire others her age.
“This is truly a dream turned reality. When they see Ryan’s dream come true, it will inspire them to believe that their dreams can come true, too.”
