Lance London serves up soul food delights

It's Jazz Night at Carolina Kitchen Bar and Grill in Hyattsville, Md. Inside, guests enjoy an array of food from a menu of home style, southern cuisine - Cajun grilled chicken breast, grilled baby back ribs, and grilled salmon. The laid back, homey atmosphere and friendly "welcome, welcome, welcome" from staff on entering Carolina Kitchen make for a relaxing experience in this up to 375 seat restaurant. In the background, holding a camera and giving the orders is Carolina Kitchen's founder and owner, Lance London. The 44-year-old entrepreneur takes photographs of the customers as the band plays sultry, soulful jazz ballads.

"My father owned a retail outlets marketing company in Maryland and he always told me that if I couldn't be a doctor or a lawyer, he wanted me to be an entrepreneur or a sales person," London said.

London's father suffered a heart attack and died in 1994, while attempting to open a McDonald's franchise in Maryland.

In his grave, London's father must be smiling, for the son has blossomed into a multifaceted entrepreneur. Besides Carolina Kitchen, he owns Mega1-Network which manufactures vitamins and produces music. He is also owns MBA, a magazine publishing company.

"I'm trying to carry on what my dad started," London told The District Chronicles. "He's always in my head. He was constantly giving me speeches. Every night he came home, he'd wake me up if I was asleep - and talk to me about how he wanted me to be somebody. He always talked in terms of entrepreneurship and business. "

London was born in DC in the 1960s, but his family later moved to Prince George's County where he graduated from Suitland High School. He attended Morgan State University, and majored in dentistry and minored in marketing.

London's marketing professor assigned a group project to develop a company and demonstrate how they would manage their creation. He barely came to the project meetings because he was so much into having fun. The group was not pleased. But, on the day of the presentation, he overheard the group arguing over who was going to do the presentation.

"I stepped forward and said I could do it," he said. "All the charts were right there; I just needed to go over everything one time," he said.

So, he did. At the front of the class, London rattled off the facts and earned his group the only "A" in the class.

One day in his sophomore year, London remembers walking on campus and seeing his professor. "Mr. London, I know you didn't really work with that group," he said. "They complained about you for three weeks. But, you did so well on that presentation. You have a lot of talent, young man."

That affirmed him and inspired him to launch a college-based business. With three vending machines - filled with candy, chips and sodas, he started a vending business at Morgan State. A year later, he had 130 machines.

"It was hard to keep going to school when I was making money the way that I was," he said. "I became less interested in school and more interested in business."

He dropped out of Morgan State University to pursue his true love - to be a business owner, a passion he showed at age 8, when he sold door-to-door subscriptions of the Prince George's County Journal.

After dropping out of Morgan State, London dabbed into a variety of business ventures, including insurance marketing and retirement programs and a stint at Pizza Hut.

In 1996, he opened Carolina Kitchen in Silver Spring, Md., as a carryout restaurant. "Business was doing well. I was working hard because it was my first restaurant but I didn't mind," he said.

But tragedy hit London in 2003, when the site burned down. Two years later, he bounced back, re-opening Carolina Kitchen in 2005 at the bustling Boulevard at the Capital Center in Prince Largo. This summer, he opened a second Carolina Kitchen twice the size of his Largo restaurant at 6501 American Blvd, in Hyattsville, Md., next to Prince George's County Plaza. His hope is to branch out to U Street and Chinatown in northwest D.C, in the near future.