How Daisy Lewis is cooking, counting and thriving
Amid a whirlwind of things to get done, Sadaya “Daisy” Lewis ’02 is opening the second location of her popular Modern Southern Table.
Sadaya “Daisy” Lewis ’02 shares a busy day with Ohio State Alumni Magazine.
With a big smile and booming laugh, restaurateur Sadaya “Daisy” Lewis explains how she finds pleasure in checking the stock market throughout the day while also exploring the creativity needed in her food career. “I’m one of those few people who use the left side and right side of their brain,” says Lewis ’02, who majored in finance and minored in art at Ohio State.
Those diverse skills for crunching numbers and crafting classic soul food combine to serve Lewis well as owner of Modern Southern Table, a popular eatery at the Budd Dairy Food Hall in Columbus. Its success has Lewis set to open a second location with the same Southern cuisine—sausage gumbo, blackened fish, three variations of fried chicken and more—that family heritage taught her to love and learn how to prepare.
“I’ve just always been about feeding people,” says Lewis, who earned an MBA at Capital University while working 10 years at Morgan Stanley before opening Modern Southern Table in 2021.
At the age of 9, she moved from her hometown of Cleveland to live with her grandmothers in Mobile, Alabama, while her mother battled breast cancer, which took her life two years later. The elders taught their grandchild about growing, storing and cooking food. A passion took root and bloomed through life.
“As a student at Ohio State, I would do side hustles with food,” Lewis says. “Smith-Steeb Hall had a community kitchen, and I used to sell meals and cater events in the dorm.”
She also cooked for co-workers at Morgan Stanley, leading to a 2014 appearance on the Food Network’s contest show “Food Court Wars.” Victory earned a year’s free rent at a mall in Zanesville, Ohio, where Modern Southern Table launched. It lasted a year-and-a-half before relaunching and flourishing at Budd Dairy Hall, a chef-driven incubator created by Columbus restaurateur Cameron Mitchell a mile south of campus on Fourth Street.
“If you can dream it, you can do it, because if you can see it, you can create it,” says Lewis, who showed us how her love of food and business comes together on a recent weekday.
6 a.m. I awake early, but getting our 7-year-old daughter up is like pulling teeth. I drop her off at school. Coffee is normally next, but I forget. Too stressed. My days are all over the place, running to wherever I’m needed. First up: our new Clintonville location.
9:30 a.m. Check in with staff members who are prepping and cooking as part of their commissary training. They have pots, pans and other supplies that our driver forgot to drop off at Budd, so I’ll do that after I head downtown to our commercial kitchen.
10:30 a.m. We do our catering out of this Fourth Street kitchen. I don’t use it all the time, so I sublease the space. I’m visiting to make certain licensing is up to date. All looks good. Next stop: Italian Village to drop off supplies at Budd.
11 a.m. I go to the register, count the money, see if there’s enough cash for today. Talk to the staff. Is there enough food supply? What are their concerns? Needs? A new general manager starts today. That means paperwork. And I need to do payroll.
Noon Lunch crowd rolls in. It’s busy. I’ll help the customers for a few minutes. If I’m near the register, I’m not going to let them wait. I don’t mind taking some orders because I think I’m the best salesman. I talk them into food.
1 p.m. These days, I’m out of the kitchen. I could jump back in, get on the line, and cook. But now the cooks have their own routine. I can’t step in anymore because it messes them up, slows them down. I created guidelines. As an owner, you can’t micromanage.
2 p.m. Weekend food orders are due today. I created an Excel spreadsheet that syncs to my phone, computer and tablet. I just plug in the inventory numbers. That’s my business experience coming into play. As for our food, it’s fresh and all natural. No fake ingredients.
4 p.m. When I first opened, I tried to do everything and got overwhelmed. About 2022, I started delegating. Everything now is smoother. My team of 14 is good for the rest of today. I’ll drop off the bank deposit and get weekend change.
Evening Opening a new location has me super excited and nervous because it’s my first expansion. There’s a lot to think about, so I’m working at home on my computer. I’m exhausted, but I love the food, and I love the independence of having my own business.
