Entrepreneur and Detroit resident Linda Kay Williams-Pruitt is the creator of Mrs. Pruitt’s Gourmet Cha Cha, a classic southern relish condiment.
Entrepreneur and Detroit resident Linda Kay Williams-Pruitt puts her money where her mouth is – literally.
As the creator of Mrs. Pruitt’s Gourmet Cha Cha, a classic southern relish condiment, Williams-Pruitt stands by her product and its rich history in the Black community.
Mrs. Pruitt’s Gourmet CHA CHA, around since the 1830s, is a Pruitt family favorite (among many other Black American families) because it is made with the ingredients and enhances any recipe.
Cha Cha is also described as a sauce, garnish, chutney, kimchi, salsa, Piccadilly, marinade, chow chow, and giardiniera all in one to be topped on your cabbage, hot dogs, collard greens, coleslaw, burger, tacos and more to enhance any recipe.
“We understand that you want to enjoy your meal as much as you enjoy the people you are sharing it with,” according to their website.
Williams-Pruitt told the Michigan Chronicle that as an urban farmer-master gardener (of Fall Harvest Urban Farms, LLC) she honed her green thumb skills growing up in southwest Detroit.
“At six I started gardening with my mom and grandmother,” she said. “We had a two-family flat and a long, long backyard, and my mother and grandmother grew all kinds of vegetables, carrots, corn, beans, that is how I grew up.”
Williams-Pruitt added that her family also had a grapevine and her mother would make jams, juice, and more, plus can the seasonal produce.
“They would last the whole year,” she said adding that it’s not normal for her to not garden. “I love gardening and I think that is how it started.”
As Williams-Pruitt grew older, she started to grow different types of vegetables and her family had a Cha Cha recipe of cabbage, green tomatoes, peppers, onions different types of herbs, garlic, and more.
She started her company in 2010 after her husband, Edward R. Pruitt, inspired her and didn’t manufacture it until March 2014.
“He said, ‘You have to do Cha Cha,’” she said of her husband’s encouraging words about creating their family business and using ingredients from his family’s side. “His parents and my mother, his mother, 94, gave me her recipe. My mom had her recipe — they were very, very similar. (My mother-in-law’s recipe) had a little twang to it. She gave me her blessing and that is my happy spot when I make Cha Cha.”
Grandma Pruitt developed the original CHA CHA recipe in the backwoods of South Carolina. Williams-Pruitt’s recipe honors her spirit. It has been passed down through generations. The recipe was derived from the need to preserve bountiful harvests of homegrown vegetables. It was often a family affair where everyone would come together and help in the canning process, according to their website.
Cha Cha means “no food ever wasted.”
The vegetarian, gluten-free dish is an answer to a consumer pain point that Williams-Pruitt said is from customers wanting something without chemicals or preservatives, which she offers.
“People are looking for that,” she said, adding that her three flavors come in mild, hot habanero, and Motor City Heat. “It tastes awesome and is an awesome probiotic.”
Williams-Pruitt added that as a vendor at various festivals, fairs, and markets around the area and region, she has seen Black customers come to her in tears because they have not seen a Cha Cha recipe in decades.
“Cha Cha is from the plantations. It takes you back to how your ancestors — aunts, uncles – how they lived and how they ate and how they gathered around the table and ate their meals, and where it originated from. It was a delicacy back then,” she said. “There is no history about that. There won’t be. … I’m here to tell the story and the origination of Cha Cha. A lot of people that migrated from the south to the north know about it.”
Williams-Pruitt’s husband told the Michigan Chronicle that he is glad the company is steadily gaining steam as they recently went nationwide and are now sold at Meijers and other chains nationwide.
“My mother said, ‘Go for it, go for it,’” he said adding that she passed last year – one month before they went nationwide.
“She always wanted me to do it and always encouraged me to do it and that is what we did,” he said. “Who knows how far we will go.”
Sharon Crockett, senior business development consultant, Detroit MBDA Center, Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council, told the Michigan Chronicle that she is a business consultant on the team working with Mrs. Pruitt’s Gourmet Cha Cha.
“She is one of my favorite clients,” Crockett said. “We have used her to participate strategically in two e-commerce ventures to increase her presence in the marketplace,” she said. “I’m so proud of her and her ability to take her Cha Cha … and bring it to a much larger audience.”
For more information visit mrspruittschacha.com.
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