Catfish, anyone? Marshawn Lynch buying beloved local restaurant rather than see it close
Marshawn Lynch is seemingly doing all he can to invest in his hometown of Oakland, California, beyond just stepping in to help the Raiders’ run game – his foundation is centered around helping children in the city, he owns a clothing store there that provides employment and now he’s stepped in to save a beloved local institution.
Lynch is buying Scend’s Restaurant and Bar, a soul food institution on the Oakland-Emeryville border.
Current owner Cassie Nicholson, who still works at the restaurant she opened 50 years ago, is 79 years old and set to retire next month. Initially, that meant the restaurant was going to close, but Lynch has stepped in to make sure it stays open.
“Sometimes I feel like I’m in my 50s and sometimes the pain hits me like I’m 90,” Nickelson told local station KTVU. “I really hate to go, but I have to.”
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But she’s OK with handing over her business to Lynch, whom Nicholson recalls as a young boy, when he’d cross the street to buy 25 cent french fries and 75 cent hamburgers from her when Nicholson was catering out of her apartment in Oakland.
“I’m comfortable with him and I like him,” Nicholson said.
Lynch will keep the menu, which includes soul food classics like fried catfish, mac and cheese, red beans and rice and cornbread, when he takes over the property in late August.
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