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Keayna Washington never set out to be a chef. In fact, if you had asked her five years ago, she might have told you she preferred a courtroom to a kitchen. A certified legal assistant with deep roots in credit repair and real estate, Washington had always imagined herself in stilettos and a power suit, not behind a food truck window. But fate, and a baked potato, had other plans.

“I’m just a girl that cooks,” she says, laughing. That humble phrase became her hashtag, her brand, and eventually, the ethos behind Watta Potato—a food truck-turned-visionary restaurant concept that serves up fully loaded baked potatoes with a twist: each one is an entire meal. Steak, shrimp, jerk lamb chops, chicken philly—all piled high on a fluffy, buttered potato.

The idea was born in the most ordinary way: at home, on a warm day, trying to keep dinner light. Her partner wanted steak and shrimp, her son asked for lobster, and Washington made it all happen—on potatoes. “I handed them their plates, and he took one bite and said, ‘This is something we can sell. No one has this.’”

It wasn’t her first business. In 2016, Washington entered the world of credit repair after learning firsthand how damaging misinformation on a credit report could be. “I was denied for low-income housing at 18 because of an account I didn’t even open,” she recalls. That moment launched her into credit advocacy, and she later founded a company that served more than 575 people across Chicagoland. But only a fraction became homeowners. “That broke my heart,” she says. “I didn’t want to fix credit so people could buy clothes or cars. I wanted them to build wealth.”

By 2022, burned out and disillusioned, she closed the credit company. Around the same time, she and her partner—a fellow entrepreneur who once owned a Harold’s Chicken—decided to give food another shot. They’d tried opening a restaurant in 2020, investing over $20,000 before COVID shut everything down. This time, they kept it small and mobile: Watta Potato was born on wheels.

From the name to the branding to the menu, it was all rooted in authenticity. The name? Her partner’s off-the-cuff reaction: “Watta Potato this is!” They ran with it. Their goal? Build it strong in Chicago before expanding nationally. “We’ve already had people ask to franchise,” Washington says. “But we’re not rushing. We want to get it right first.”

Today, Watta Potato has a home base on Chicago’s West Side, in the heart of the Austin neighborhood at 5202 W. Washington Boulevard. It’s become both a community staple and a launchpad for Washington’s bigger vision.

For Washington, this venture means more than profit. It means her kids will grow up with something tangible. It means buying farmland to grow their own potatoes. It means launching their own seasoning line. And it means giving up the exhausting “get it out the mud” mentality that left her on the brink of a nervous breakdown during her first business.

“I sacrificed everything—my health, my time, my relationship,” she admits. Now, she’s focused on systems, structure, and sustainability. “You can’t grow a business if you’re working it 24/7.”

Still, Washington remains hands-on. When an employee recently called out on a sunny Chicago day, she stepped in for a 10-hour shift. But she does so with intention. “Now I work in the business, not as the business.”

Between raising kids, managing her work in real estate, and developing new product lines, Washington is busy building something that lasts. “I perfected entrepreneurship to the point where it’s residual now. It works for me.”

And it all started with a potato, a summer night, and a woman who just wanted to cook something simple.

Watta Potato is more than a meal. It’s a movement. And Washington is just getting started.

 

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Watta Potato