Metro West’s Free Fish Fry Takes Place in Mechanicsville

The Metro West food truck held their fourth and final stop of their free fish fry tour in the parking lot of The Atlanta Voice in Mechanicsville Tuesday afternoon.

Through social media and word of mouth, people in nearby neighborhoods came to retrieve fish filets, fries and a beverage of their choice free of charge. Children and adults gathered in line before the food truck opened to ensure they were served before food ran out.

Entrepreneurs and married couple Dominique Billings and Radreckia Allen-Billings are the founders of two Metro West locations, along with an upscale restaurant, Party of 5. Even before their restaurants came about, the couple has always been a proponent of catering to the needs of their community. The family began by working for a nonprofit organization feeding children in after-school programs. Furthermore, Billings grew up in a less fortunate predicament, where he did not always have access to hot meals, motivating him to give back.

“Growing up, my mom worked a lot. So I was one of those kids that was raised by my older sister. Most times, kids aren’t able to cook and do whatever they want, but they want hot meals,” Billings said. “That was the biggest thing that I thought about when becoming an entrepreneur. I thought about how I can serve the people who were just like me.”

The family began traveling to other areas in Atlanta due to high demand of service, as the Metro West restaurants are located in Decatur and College Park. However, the free fish fry tour was made into a reality when he saw kids in these underrepresented areas who reminded him of his younger self.

“I saw a bunch of kids in Bankhead walking around with swimsuits coming from the pool, and I thought about how that used to be me outside all day. I didn’t have any money to buy my own food, but I didn’t want to go home. So I called my wife and told her we should do a free fish fry,” Billings said.

The Billings’ philosophy entails putting themselves in the shoes of others and listening to the people they serve. They claim that one cannot just try to serve a community from an outsider perspective and expect to remotely understand them.

Growing up, Billings lacked positive role models, ultimately leading to his incarceration on account of poor decision making. He wants the youth to know that they can make just as much, if not more money being an entrepreneur than they could make selling drugs.

“Offer whatever you can because you never know what that little bit can do, it may mean millions to somebody else. It isn’t necessarily about giving back money but giving back education and knowledge, because those are everything,” Allen-Billings said.

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