Voices that Inspire

What inspires you from WFSU Public Media? Here's this week's Voices That Inspire. I'm Jay Morel and I am co-owner of Earleys Kitchen. My wife and I bought Earleys Kitchen in 2008 from Mr. Eddie Earle and Miss Cynthia Earle. They began Earleys Kitchen in 1984. I was the executive chef at Florida NM for eight years. It was my alma mater. I really enjoyed the students. I really enjoyed the kids. We were of course in food service there also. It was just something about being stuck in a salary. Pretty much the same thing day in and day out. So it kind of got to a point where time to do something different. My inspiration definitely came from my parents. Just seeing them working hard every day. My father and mother, when I was growing up, were migrant workers. We would travel up and down the East Coast, depending on what was season to pick and harvest and prune. And I can remember later in life when my father got a little older and he purchased the truck. And he says, we're not going to pick fruit anymore. We're going to harvest and haul fruit and we'll get paid more. But of course, we couldn't afford the big nice trucks, the one ton trucks, but we had a little pickup and we had to make many trips. But it didn't matter as my father, because he had us out of the groves. But my father, when we got that truck and he put on the side of that truck, J and J, Morrell. My father was John and I was J. Seeing that on the side of that truck gave me so much pride and stuck with me for a long time in this deal and still to me today. My father was a great man. My name is J Morrell. And I am the co-owner of Earleys Kitchen. You're listening to Voices That Inspire.