During his years at Howard University, Denville Myrie Jr saw a need for good late-night meals on-campus and decided to step in. He began selling Jamaican jerk chicken out of his Howard University dorm room in 2012.
Soon, his offering became popular on campus, and students showed great interest in Myrie’s cooking. In no time, he carried on with the food service beyond the campus walls and even hired his peers as delivery drivers when he relocated into a townhouse.
Kadeem Todd, who also attended Howard University, joined Myrie as a co-owner in the business named Jerk at Nite. They acquired a food truck in 2014, with jerk oxtail serving as one of their standout menu offerings. They subsequently acquired two additional food trucks with the goal of establishing a storefront for Jerk at Nite.
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In 2019, the business partners rented a space on H Street in Washington, DC. “We learned about construction and took a hard process of building ourselves with no bank funding,” the company said in a statement in an Instagram video.
Relying on daily truck sales, the storefront opened in August 2023 with Loic Sany serving as the executive chef, according to AfroTech. In addition to its two food trucks, Jerk at Nite has another storefront at 2149 Queens Chapel Rd NE, which was endorsed by popular food critique Keith Lee on August 27.
According to Fox 5, Lee visited the D.C. restaurant and left a generous tip along with payment for 200 platters for people in the community. The restaurant reached out to Lee after hearing news that he would be heading to the DMV. Lee took the offer and visited the restaurant.
“Thank you @keith_lee125 @ron.geezy for supporting local restaurants like us in the DMV showing our team love,” a statement read per the company’s Instagram. “10 years ago we were selling food out of our dorm room at @howard1867 and now we’re here! We recently took a huge loss with our H street location having a fire. @keith_lee125 heard about us being a Howard University and DC community staple so we made sure he tasted our perseverance and passion on every plate. We hope we made DC proud! Big up ya self Keith‼️”
Currently having three Jerk at Nite locations, the Howard University alumni hope to open a fourth location in Baltimore, MD, in September.
