When Erica Baldwin lost everything, she put her all into serving the Fayetteville area.
Her only son, Mario Baldwin, was killed at 31 in a vehicle accident in February 2021 on Raeford Road. Her husband, Calvin Pitt, was killed in a motorcycle accident the following month, she said.
At the same time, Erica Baldwin, 48, opened her Fillyaw Road restaurant Food 4 the Soul. It shares a name and menu with the food truck that she’s owned and operated since 2017. Before that, she sold plates at barbershops and salons around town from her Nissan Altima, she said.
Through her restaurant and her nonprofit founded in 2020, Food 4 Da Soul Community Corporation, Baldwin said she’s donated hundreds of meals and baskets of pantry goods to those in need.
Staying busy helps her work through the grief, she said.
“I might look like I’m OK, but on the inside, I’m crushed,” Baldwin said.
Meals from ‘Mama Baldwin’
Before Baldwin started her culinary career, she would cook for her son and his friends. He played football, basketball and ran track at Jack Britt High School, and all those teams knew they could get something to eat from “Mama Baldwin,” she said.
Hanging on the back wall of the cozy restaurant is a portrait of him, and she wears a necklace adorned with his photograph.
Erica Baldwin, who is a Terry Sanford High School graduate, said she comes from a family of cooks: her father hosted free neighborhood barbecues in her native Lumberton; her mother sold soul food plates at sporting events in Fayetteville; and her grandmother was known for her cornbread stuffing, a recipe that Baldwin uses at her restaurant to this day.
Food 4 the Soul provides comfort that’s reminiscent of a home-cooked meal — soul music and the smell of barbecue fill the air and Baldwin’s sunny disposition is mirrored by the orange walls of the restaurant, which are covered in black Sharpie signatures of diners.
“Everybody’s important that come through these doors, so we want everybody to feel special,” she said of what she calls “soulful signatures.”
Feeding the soul
The restaurant’s calling cards are tangy turkey barbecue, chicken wings and macaroni and cheese, Baldwin said. On Sundays, churchgoers come hungry for her tender pot roast, served with rice and gravy, she said.
Baldwin said she and Mayor Mitch Colvin grew up in the same neighborhood on Murchison Road, and her food is a favorite among the staff at city hall. Fayetteville food scene players like Bruce Yeomans of Noth’n Fancy food truck and Sheldon China of Melvin’s at Riverside have told The Fayetteville Observer that Food 4 the Soul is their go-to spot on nights they don’t feel like cooking.
In the future, Baldwin said, she hopes to open a second restaurant with a bar. For now, she said, she’s grateful for her success and the opportunity to serve others.
“We give back over here,” she said.
