Hear from our past client: Lolo’s

Lolo’s has been locally owned and locally operated since 2014, with instrumental support through a small business loan from HEF. The LoLo’s brand is now expanding with a new location, Lolo’s On the Water.

“When I married Chef Raymond Mohan, I knew that we would end up starting a restaurant.” (Leticia Skai Young)

Leticia Skai Young was born in East Harlem. As a Prep for Prep graduate, she attended the Brearley School for Girls on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Entrepreneurship program of ICC, formerly known as French Culinary Institute, Columbia University’s Community Business Program, and is a 10k small business Goldman Sachs Alum.

Lolo’s Seafood Shack opened its doors in October 2014. LoLo’s is a way for Leticia to creatively express her passion for travel and island flavors.  The LoLo’s experience is inspired by the locally owned, locally operated seaside eateries; referred to as lolos, they encountered while living abroad in the British West Indies. When Young-Mohan and Mohan stumbled upon a vacant restaurant space with a backyard a few years later, they decided that “Harlem could use its own little lolo,” according to Young-Mohan. The menu features a variety of nostalgic offerings from island-styled BBQ to coastal comfort foods of the Cape to Caribbean Street eats like johnny cakes.

“I am living proof that any young lady with a dream from Harlem to the Caribbean and the diaspora beyond can live out their dreams.”