Splendid Events offers home-style cooking and catering for events of all kinds

Published 9:45 am Friday, July 7, 2023

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For over 10 years, Janice Davidson has been the mastermind behind Splendid Events.

Splendid Events is a home-style cooking restaurant located at 116 Bull St.

“We cater to anyone and anywhere. We try to make you feel welcome as soon as you hit those doors. We’re not very big, but we welcome everyone here with open arms,” Davidson said.

Davidson said the inspiration to open her own restaurant came from her mother, Gladys Meredith, sister, Glenda Nelson, and former home economics teacher Ruby Griggs.

“Miss Griggs taught us how to keep a home, whether it was sewing, cooking, decorating or whatever. When I got grew up, that inspiration from her and my family inspired me to want to become a home economics teacher. I ended up majoring in sociology, but they deal with people, but they have to eat too,” Davidson said.

She said the restaurant serves signature meat options daily (baked chicken, fried chicken and pork chop) and adds one or two more protein options to the menus each day along with a variety of vegetables.

“We also do breakfast in the morning from 7 a.m. to 1030 a.m. We have a lot of old-fashioned bacon that people think is fatback, along with ham, pancakes and more,” Davidson said. “We can do everything from Hispanic food, Asian, Thai — there is nothing we can’t do. My head chef, Al Howard, is a baker and can bake everything in the world. He always told me, ‘If you’re a baker, you can cook. But if you’re a cook, a lot of them can’t bake’ and that’s Al.”

Along with serving up delicious meals in the restaurant, Splendid Events offers catering for everything from baby showers, weddings, meetings and more.

Davidson said she loves being in the community and meeting great people.

“I love people, and I try to be no stranger, and my staff is the same way. We are family here, and nobody goes hungry. Everybody up the street will tell you, Miss Janice going feed you,” Davidson said. “When some homeless people come in, we’ve fed them and do it a way where they aren’t dependent on us. When they come in, I will ask them what do you want to work, and we go from there.”

She said that the businesses on Bull Street work to support one another.

“We always try to support everybody. We have each other’s back and try to show up and support each other when we can. They don’t want anyone to be left out, and everyone is just great. It is a blessing to be here for as long as we have and to have a community that supports you is a beautiful thing,” Davidson said.