Cooking meals for Dami Olukoya’s large extended family was a Christmas tradition at her grandfather’s home in western Nigeria. Those parties sparked her future career as a chef, restaurant owner, and recipe developer.
“I’ve always known I was going to be in hospitality,” she said.
However, in high school, when she first told her parents she wanted to pursue a career in hospitality management, they didn’t take her seriously. They supported her interest in cooking and taking care of people, but why leave home to study hospitality when she could remain local to cook?
After Olukoya earned a hospitality management diploma in Nigeria and gained practical experience in cooking and housekeeping, her family started to get it.
“My father thought it was something that doesn’t require skill,” she said. “He thought people just fall into it.”
But over the next few years, Olukoya more than convinced her family of her aspirations and talent as a food entrepreneur. After completing her associate degree in Nigeria, she spent four years studying hospitality administration and management as well as finance at Iowa State University.
Upon graduating and returning home, despite knowing that she eventually wanted to open a restaurant, Olukoya took a finance job for a year. She found the work boring. When COVID-19 shut things down, what was a challenging time for others became an opportunity for Olukoya.
She revisited her restaurant dreams and launched Do Bowls in September 2020, delivering Nigerian dishes like jollof rice and a creamy dirty jerk pasta made with scotch bonnet peppers, stewed beef, shrimp, and snails.
The concept was wildly successful, and she sold out nearly every day. The business received a positive review from a food critic and continued to grow. Olukoya began hiring employees and took over her parents’ spare room.
Hoping to expand the business and further her education, Olukoya explored grad school options and came across the Master of Global Hospitality Management program at Georgia State’s Robinson College of Business. She was accepted within a month of applying. Satisfied she was leaving Do Bowls in good hands with her business partner, Olukoya made her way to Atlanta in summer 2023.
Almost immediately, her studies paid off. Do Bowls now has 14 employees and offers catering services. When Olukoya left Nigeria, the restaurant fulfilled approximately 30 orders per day; that number has nearly doubled.
“I was able to operate more professionally because of a lot of information I picked up in school,” she said.
Olukoya attends the School of Hospitality's 50th anniversary celebration.
Through Benjamin Lawrence’s franchising class, she learned how to treat her business like a franchise and run it more efficiently. Also, because of the knowledge she gained in Berkley Baker’s entrepreneurship classes, her business partner now can fully run Do Bowls without her constant input.
The greatest benefit to Olukoya has been the quality connections she’s established within her cohort of 15 students. Because of the small group size, Olukoya and her peers have built a tight-knit bond. Plus, the majority of Olukoya’s undergraduate classmates weren’t as hyped as she was about the hospitality industry. Her Robinson comrades are equally passionate about the field.
“It shows in the way they work and the expectations they have for the professors,” she said.
When she graduates at the end of the summer, Olukoya may stick around for a while. Atlanta is a hospitality hub, and the city has allowed her to try new things like working in a hotel. She might consider expanding Do Bowls to the U.S. one day, but she doesn’t yet feel confident about how to market to American customers.
“One of the things I learned about last year is accepting where you have to be and embracing life,” she said. “You never know what’s going to happen tomorrow.”