Image credit: 400 North Creative
Martine Chery-Hilaire, owner of Chez Matou Green Machine food truck, is no stranger to resourcefulness. Born and raised in Haiti, she moved to the United States in 2003 and began working a variety of retail jobs. She decided to join the military when her first daughter was born. As her four-year military contract ended, she was stationed on Fort Riley and decided to stay in the Junction City area. Throughout the various jobs she worked and the cities she called home, her Haitian culture was always an anchor for Martine, and it was no surprise when it eventually led to an entrepreneurial opportunity.
Long before she opened a restaurant though, she always served Haitian food. “I started serving patê kòde to my mom’s church friends,” she says. Eventually, she moved her food service out of her home and hosted pop-ups, expanding to cook more types of food, in the various cities in which she lived. When she moved to Kansas, she invited people to her house after church on Sunday to eat for free. As the demand for the unique taste of Haitian cuisine grew, Martine saw the opportunity to officially start a business, backed by her mom’s financial support and her husband as her business partner. “His support is what allowed me the flexibility to go ahead and start Chez Matou when I finally did,” she says.
The challenge she faced immediately was moving out of her home kitchen and into a licensed kitchen. With no incubator kitchens in the area at the time, she researched a creative way to start her business. “I came across a way to start a food business if you don’t have a kitchen and learned you could use a local VFW or Eagles by becoming a member. The Eagles allowed me to get my license there,” she says. In 2018, Martine joined The Eagles and started operating her restaurant from their commercial kitchen for the next year and a half.
At the end of 2019, however, after getting pregnant, she took a break from running the restaurant. However, her pregnancy ended prematurely with the loss of her daughter. Wanting to continue pursuing her passion while also giving attention to her grief, Martine began attending culinary school. “After I lost my daughter, I started attending culinary school to start learning to cook professionally, but also to keep myself busy and cope with my grief.” With her professional culinary training in hand, combined with her passion to serve Haitian food and connect people with her culture, she returned to her kitchen. In early 2020, she began making small orders at home, but with Soldiers deployed, she did not have a consistent revenue.
“Then I met Kalecia.” She was invited to work as a guest chef at Kalecia Simmons’ food truck, The Chef and I. In fall 2020, she was given the opportunity to purchase the truck, and she did. “I like a lot of space [to cook],” she says, “So I hoped to start in a brick and mortar. I did not want to do a food truck at first, but now I’ve adjusted to it.”
After making repairs to the truck, she offered catering and served out of her food truck in early 2021. Operating the food truck helped increase awareness of her business in Junction City. “Many people know about us, even if they have not patronized the Green Machine,” says Martine.
Martine continued to make connections with other entrepreneurs who loved her passion and saw her drive, and new opportunities came her way. After being introduced to Amber Starling, a Manhattan-based entrepreneur and owner of Good Witch Cleaning, she says she become more knowledgeable about the opportunities and resources her local community offers. “Amber invited me to present at 1 Million Cups, and then I participated in the Entrepreneur Business Basics course [in summer 2021],” says Martine. “These two opportunities helped me get more comfortable talking about my business.”
Her newfound confidence and connections led her to apply to pitch in the regional pitch competition, Startup MHK, where she was selected as a finalist. At the event, she won first place and was awarded $10,000 for her business. “I am a firm believer that your network determines your net worth. With Amber inviting me to 1 Million Cups and with Sheila at Black Entrepreneurs of the Flint Hills always posting grants in the Black Entrepreneurs group, I would not be where I am today.” She continues by urging others to pursue funding opportunities that come their way. “What if you apply and get it? You never know what opportunities you may get if you try.”
Following the pitch competition, Martine used some of her winnings to purchase a lot along Washington Street in downtown Junction City. She uses the lot to operate her food truck, and her position along a main street gives her added visibility.
In Spring 2022, Martine was accepted to an exclusive Disney World Culinary Program, and she moved to Florida to attend the program, placing her business operations temporarily on hold. However, once she began the program, she saw an even bigger opportunity to become a food vendor at Disney World. “Nowhere on any Disney menu did they have Haitian food,” she observes. “Being an insider [at Disney] opened my eyes to the opportunities they have to represent not only Haitian cuisine but also Chez Matou.” She is currently completing her application to become a Disney World food vendor. “My goal is to expose as many people as possible to Haitian food and what better place than a place where people come from all over the world to visit.”
Martine always dreams big and thinks of others when she does it. What she continues to discover is that her big dreams open new doors for her, and she wants to bring others with her, all while inviting everyone around her to share her Haitian food and culture. At home in Junction City, she hopes to work with other restaurant owners and vendors to create an activity district that would include international foods and unique experiences, serving as a tourist attraction and putting Junction City’s diverse population and entrepreneurs on display. “The main focus is to have an international restaurant, with Haitian cuisine as the star of the show, of course, but the rest of the menu would feature staple items from the different ethnicities that make up Junction City.” She imagines a high-energy, dynamic location where “we will install things like an indoor pool and playground for kids. We need more for people to do here, more family-style entertainment.” She continues, “My vision is to have a coffee shop downtown, where people who work downtown can find a bakery, meet for lunch, discuss city matters over coffee and fresh bread near their work.”
Martine stands in the door of The Green Machine, her food truck along Washington Street in downtown Junction City. She used her Startup MHk award money to purchase the lot.
Always a visionary, she has been building relationships by hosting vendor events and letting other business owners know about her ideas. She also attended an ethnic festival recently where she met other Haitian vendors.
At the root of her desire to connect Haitian culture with the world is a commitment to paint a truer and richer picture of Haiti than the media typically portrays. “By sharing the Haitian food with the world, I want to give people something positive to associate with Haiti. People don’t know how hard-working we are, how generous we are, and I want people to know those things. There is a lot people miss out on because of their preconceived notions about Haitians.” She adds, “We are visionary. We strive for a life that will not only help us but also support our family back home. The better off we are here, the more we can support those back home.”
Visit Martine at the Green Machine for authentic Haitian cuisine in downtown Junction City on Washington Street, or hire her to cater your next event.
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