Danielle Young, owner of Revival Eastside Eatery, attended UNC Chapel Hill for her undergraduate degree, but soon after found herself in Waco, Texas attending Baylor University obtaining her graduate and doctorate degrees in clinical psychology. As you can imagine, these degrees don’t exactly line up with opening up a restaurant, so Parent Engagement sat down with Danielle to find out a little bit more about how exactly Revival Eastside Eatery came to be!
Q: Was there a certain drive or passion in you for wanting to open a restaurant?
A: “Yeah! My husband and I bought this building in 2017 and instead of complaining about the type of space that we wanted, we decided to do some research and figure out how to do it and create it.” Giving credit to Baylor, Young also said, “I think the one thing grad school taught me was how to do my own research and how to do it well."
Q: Did having a PhD in clinical psychology inspire Revival in any way?
A: “I don’t know if the degree directly inspired it, but the love of people and connecting people through food definitely did. I’m a licensed clinical psychologist so when I have people here who are in need I am able to give them something tangible, which is very different from the psychology world. We [also] get to love our staff really well with housing, food and jobs."
Q: Is there a professor at Baylor that was a mentor to you or helped inspire the idea?
A: “Not for Revival, but my mentor was Dr. Christine Limbers. She is incredible! Just very kind and loving. Her line of research while I was under her was health and wellbeing. So, in some ways, I learned that we can offer healthy options for people that want them and moderation is key.”
Q: What was it like going through COVID as a business owner?
A: “We weren’t open that long when the world changed in an instant. We opened July 2019 and didn’t tell a soul that we were opening. We didn’t have a food truck, we weren’t at the farmers market and we didn’t have a backing. We just kind of opened and waited to see what word of mouth could do. I’m a firm believer in if you have a good product, people are going to tell others. It was an interesting game of, "Do we wear masks and gloves in the front house?" but, to be honest, we just followed what H-E-B was doing. They are one of the biggest businesses in Texas and they care a lot about their staff." Luckily for Revival, this model proved successful. They say, "There is no way to make everyone happy, but boy, do we try hard!"
Q: Did you ever feel like you were going to give up and sell the space? Or, did you know that you were going to stick through it the whole time?
A: “I think we originally thought COVID was going to last a month or two, but then it kept persisting. So we just had to get creative with it. It was exhausting, but we never felt like it was going to take us down."
Q: We noticed that many of your dish names have to do with the Bible, what inspired this?
A: “This building actually used to be an old church. So, most names are religiously tied. I think that these names wouldn't necessarily work everywhere, but because we are so connected with Baylor and where we are, it works! Our best selling item is the Golden Calf which is a signature burger. We thought naming our place Revival was a unique way to pay tribute to what it was before. We also feel like we are in a part of town that is becoming revitalized and we are just thankful to be a part of that."
Q: What is your favorite dish?
A: “My favorite dish changes all the time, but right now, the Technicolor DreamCoat is my favorite." OURS TOO, Danielle! "It's a vegetarian option of a beautiful, messy and delicious sandwich. It has thinly roasted sweet potatoes, pickled beets and red onions with whipped herbed goat cheese, lemon garlic aioli and arugula. It’s a weird, bizarre combo, but somehow it all works."
A huge thanks to Danielle for sitting down with us! We hope you, Baylor Parents, read this interview and see just what Baylor alum are accomplishing in Waco. If nothing else, we hope it inspires you to try Revival. We promise, it never disappoints!
Written by Sarah Mumma, BU '25 and Parent Engagement Intern
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