thisisalabama.org
Alessandra Kennedy might be the busiest woman in Birmingham. She is a food truck owner, a tech company founder and program director at Birmingham Bound.
In this role, Kennedy orchestrates a comprehensive program aiding startups in Birmingham, offering support in media, PR, local connections, pitch deck development and access to an investor network. She is passionate about recruiting companies to the Magic City and helping them succeed.
Beyond her work at Birmingham Bound, Kennedy has operated E&J Concessions, a popular food truck, for four years. Recognizing the challenges faced by food trucks in reaching new customers, she conceived Street Eatz, a platform facilitating real-time tracking, bookings and enhanced visibility for food trucks.
Her commitment to bridging gaps within the tech ecosystem and empowering entrepreneurs is her passion. We wanted to hear about her work and her dedication to Birmingham.
This is Alabama: What is your favorite part about living in Alabama?
Alessandra Kennedy: I think that the people here are one of a kind. The Southern hospitality is a real thing. And I realize that from working in Techstars. If you’re not familiar, Techstars admits 12 companies per year to come and get funding in exchange for some equity in their company. And so, they move their companies here to Birmingham from all over the world. We had people from Italy; we had people from Latvia; we had people from Nigeria. It’s just very widespread, super competitive. But I realized when they got here that they didn’t realize how nice the people were here in Alabama.
They were like, “Is this normal? People are helping me, and I just want to move here because of the people.” I realized that you will not find a place with better hospitality than Birmingham and Alabama in general.
And Alabama itself has some of the smartest people that I’ve ever met in my life. They have the true mindset that you can act local and think global. That’s truly how they operate in the sense of business.
TIA: What’s the one restaurant you recommend?
Kennedy: You know, not brick and mortar, but a mobile restaurant, I would definitely pick mine. That’s E&J Concessions food truck. We sell everything from fried fish to chicken to Philly cheesesteaks and gourmet funnel cakes. You know, we change our menu around sometimes because we realize that everything doesn’t work for everywhere. So sometimes you may come to the truck, and we may be selling Philly cheesesteaks and wings. And one day you may come, and we may have turkey burgers and grilled chicken salads. We switch it up.
But we do have menu items that we keep regularly, especially our funnel cakes. That is like our bread and butter, our number one bestseller. Especially our red velvet funnel cake that has cream cheese, pecans, powdered sugar and strawberries.
TIA: What is the most beautiful place in Alabama?
Kennedy: I feel like this is a super hard question because Alabama itself and more specifically Birmingham is, like, ranked among the top 50 places in the U.S. that have the most green spaces per capita. Between its parks, beaches and caverns, it is really hard to choose one. But my favorites would be Red Mountain Park and Orange Beach.
TIA: What is a place in Alabama that you’ve always wanted to visit but haven’t yet?
Kennedy: I’m a waterfall girl. I feel like water is so calming. No matter if it’s rushing or going at a slower pace, like, it’s just something that I can literally stare at all day. I want to go back to DeSoto Falls as an adult. And I really want to visit Martha’s Falls.
This story was previously published by This is Alabama. Want to read more good news about Alabama? Sign up for the This is Alabama newsletter here.
