Paula Deen’s late blooming into a restaurateur is storied, but she has nothing on Martha Lou Gadsden.
Gadsden was 53 when she went into business for herself in 1983. She already had worked at several restaurants around Charleston, all while raising nine children.
“If I could make food for them (restaurants), I can make it for myself,” she reasoned at the time.
Gadsden took over a tiny, scruffy snack shack on Morrison Drive and opened Martha Lou’s Kitchen. Testing the waters on the first day, she sold only hot dogs and french fries.
“She made 11 dollars and something in change,” recalls daughter Joyce Taylor.