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How does one bring a traditional food style and its tastes known for generations into a present-day urban neighborhood attuned to change and healthier choices? Well-seasoned and perceptive chef Troy Tingling took on that challenge over the past year and found an audience and home for his culinary inspiration Soulfly Chicken, a fast-casual concept in Miami’s district of Wynwood.
A Global Journey Leads to Soulfly Chicken
The journey that brought Tingling to his current location for healthy fast food in Miami is also an unusual one. He is a first-generation Jamaican American who graduated from Le Cordon Bleu. He then took that elite culinary education back to the island of his youth to oversee the French dining cuisine at Sandals Royal Caribbean Resort.
Building on that experience in French fare, he traveled the world as a private chef in the following years until his home turf beckoned him back to South Florida.
It was a time of change in the regional business and the culinary landscape emerging after the pandemic, and Tingling saw his opportunity to innovate within it. Relying on the experience of his global travels, early knowledge of classic southern comfort foods and his Caribbean-American roots, he found his ultimate culinary identity.
Soulfly Chicken brings together the use of high-tech advances and expertly sourced ingredients and poultry to a local audience that appreciates both the familiar taste of comfort with an awareness of healthier eating.
“I saw that everyone was moving toward a more tech concept in their fast food restaurants. So, I did more studies to figure out how I could just be more efficient. As you can see, we don’t have a cashier, and we have a kiosk system, so we have limited staff here.
“All our foods go into a locker system where our customers get a text or notification that their food is ready, as well as certain technologies that allow the chicken to cook quicker than everyone else. It allows the chicken to be crispier than everyone else’s and with 40% less calories because we use 40% less oil. So it has been healthful, and people have been noticing the difference.”
Soundwave Technology and Healthy Fast Food in Miami
The opening of Soulfly Chicken in 2023 within the Miami district of Wynwood, an up-and-coming neighborhood now home to a wide range of arts, tech, and global dining venues, appears to be an ideal match so far.
While the most visible feature of Soulfly Chicken’s formula for healthier comfort foods is a patented soundwave technology, Tingling’s emphasis on “healthful” begins even earlier than the final step of oven immersion.
An awareness of how and where the best poultry can be sourced is also very much a part of the wider chain involved. “We are based here in Miami so it was just seeing what were the best farms – just learning about premium chicken, the better factories, vendors, locations, and so that’s what I did. I found one of the best farms located here in Florida that’s been delivering us some great chicken,” he says, pointing to the connection between tech and ingredients.
Efficiency is also key in the design of Soulfly Chicken’s physical layout – the customer can order remotely and pick it up from a locker on arrival, or even be one who just drops in and orders from the menus displayed across the walls or from the kiosks.
“You come in and do you want it hot, do you want it mild, do you want it fire – so the customer has the option of what flavor with the chicken they want.” In a nutshell, healthy fast food in Miami does not mean taste and style are sacrificed at all – they go well together in the overall process here, where detail and personal preference still matter.
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Same Comfort Tastes, New Customer Base
After just over a year since its doors first opened, just who is emerging as the customer base for this locally unique culinary concept? The answer seems to be a diverse range of travelers to the Miami area, both regional and national. This is in addition to the growing base of health-conscious residents and small businesses that appreciate access to comfort foods lower in fat and a takeaway convenience to savor at home or on a lunch break at their workplace.
Tingling summarizes his customer base, saying, “It’s very artsy, up-and-coming. I call it a Millennial neighborhood, where there’s a lot of tech guys here, and you have a lot of entrepreneurs here. I think I fit in perfectly from that aspect of it, as well as it’s still a party neighborhood. We get a lot of out-of-towners, we get a lot of people here who are locals, or who drive near and far to come and try the food who are interested. It’s been a great response – everyone’s loved it so far.”
From a half bird and chicken tenders to boneless breasts of chicken and more, authentic home tastes at Soulfly Chicken are served up just the way the customer expects, along with that attention from farm to oven that makes it all healthier.
Soulfly Chicken is located at 2615 N. Miami Avenue. Catering is also available. Visit Tingling and the restaurant online for the full menu, hours and more. See before you taste how good Soulfly Chicken is, as well as where the Soulfly Chicken food truck will be next by following them on Instagram and Facebook.
