There was a time when Chantel Jackson carried her business on her shoulder. Literally.
Armed with a hot bag full of homemade Philly cheesesteaks and a determination to make something of herself, Jackson walked up and down Tacoma’s 56th Street, stopping into barber shops one by one, hoping someone might be hungry.
She didn’t have a storefront. She didn’t even have a car.
“I had no money and I was super broke,” Jackson told Puget Press. “All I did was make sandwiches.”
Today, customers line up at Thyme Well Spent Café just off that same stretch of road, where she now serves Southern-inspired soups, sandwiches, salads and rotating comfort food specials from the brick-and-mortar restaurant she opened in November 2025.
For Jackson, it’s proof that the streets where someone struggles can someday become the place they thrive.
“It’s like a full journey of people seeing how I went from… trying to sell sandwiches to now owning a sandwich shop right on the corner where I used to sell them,” she said.
That full-circle moment is woven into nearly everything about Thyme Well Spent.
The cozy café at 5608 Park Ave. S. isn’t chasing fine-dining accolades or trendy culinary buzzwords. Instead, Jackson describes it as something much simpler.
“It’s like a southern Panera Bread, is what I like to call it,” she said.
But beneath the sandwiches, scratch-made soups and fresh salads is a philosophy that’s been quietly shaping Jackson’s life for years — long before she ever hung a restaurant sign.
The World’s Lunch Lady
“I just want to be the world’s Lunch Lady,” she said.
And she means it. While nearly 60,000 followers across social media affectionately know her as “Chef Chantel,” Jackson is quick to downplay the title.
Yes, she’s catered for companies including Amazon, Starbucks, and Facebook. She’s a certified World Food Championships judge in the plant-based category.
And her vegan mac and cheese recipe racked up more than 3 million views on TikTok, eventually inspiring her own dairy-free cheese powder.
And yet, those accomplishments aren’t how Jackson measures success.
“I’ve never considered myself a chef. I never went to culinary school,” she said. “Sometimes I don’t even know the right sauces or the right technique, but I’ve always loved being a lunch lady.”
Jackson previously served as the food service director at Camp Sealth on Vashon Island, but the inspiration behind her “Lunch Lady” identity goes back much further.
As an elementary school student, she found a role model in her own lunch lady, Cora. Years later, when she began sharing cooking videos online, Jackson adopted the handle @theworldslunchlady as a tribute.
“I’ve had my own cafeterias before. I love food service and I love kids,” she said.
“My award is having a kid come to camp who doesn’t eat food because they’re scared or have anxiety, but all of a sudden they try my mac and cheese and now they’ve broken that fear.
“My customer is people. Come get a meal, come get a lunch box and let me feed you.”
A Restaurant She Never Planned to Open
Ironically, Jackson spent years convinced she’d never own a traditional restaurant.
She had already built Thyme Well Spent into a successful catering, private chef and food truck business after leaving corporate kitchens in 2016.
The flexibility suited her, and she knew exactly how difficult the restaurant business could be.
“It never was a goal,” she said. “I always said I was never going to do this because brick-and-mortars are the worst.”
The financial risk. The staffing challenges. The constant overhead. She understood all of it.
Yet even as Jackson dismissed the idea of owning a brick-and-mortar, she was already helping others build food businesses of their own.
Considering herself a teacher as much as a cook, she developed curriculum that walked aspiring entrepreneurs through everything from catering and private chef work to launching food trucks.
Opening a restaurant, she figured, was naturally the next lesson.
“I did it just to say that I could do it,” she said with a laugh.
Now, when customers step inside Thyme Well Spent, Jackson sees something more than a restaurant. She sees every chapter of her life sitting together on one menu.
“There was one year I just did teas when I was a pop-up at farmers markets doing sweet teas. One year I was just a dessert lady, and then another year I was just a sandwich person,” she said.
“I tell people my life has been a lunchbox the whole time. Now people can come in and see every stage of my life in one lunchbox.”
Reinventing Southern Comfort
That philosophy extends beyond the food itself. Jackson wanted to create a place where Southern comfort food could feel both nostalgic and fresh.
Growing up in a family with Louisiana roots, she knows soul food often carries a reputation for being heavy.
“We’re people of color, so we’re subject to diabetes and high blood pressure,” she said. “I wanted to switch it up.”
Instead of abandoning the flavors she grew up loving, she reimagined them.
“We’re reinventing stuff we like but putting it into a soup, salad or sandwich form to make it a little bit healthier.”
That approach shows up throughout the menu.
The café’s popular chicken and waffle salad swaps a traditional plate piled high with syrup for fresh greens, crispy chicken, and unique cornbread waffle croutons.
“It’s a way to eat chicken and waffles and not feel guilty about it,” Jackson said.
Her signature sweet teas also break from tradition. Sweetened with maple and dates rather than relying on cups of sugar, they’re intentionally lighter than the syrupy versions many people associate with the South.
“It’s very herbal, very refreshing, very Pacific Northwest,” she said.
Then there’s the Tacoma Cluck, the café’s fried chicken sandwich served on pillowy fry bread instead of a standard bun.
“You can’t beat that.”
For diners craving a more traditional taste of the South, Fridays are reserved for rotating soul food specials, from crispy catfish to fried chicken and seafood gumbo.
“We each have a cheat day, which is Fridays,” she said. “So come cheat with me on Fridays.”
A Taste of Hilltop
If there is one menu item that best captures Jackson’s journey, it’s the Hilltop Sandwich.
Named after the Tacoma neighborhood where she grew up, the sandwich pays tribute to Hilltop’s complicated past and resilient spirit with thick slices of ribeye, blue cheese, arugula and a sweet potato spread in place of mayonnaise.
Each ingredient, she explained, carries personal symbolism:
The blue cheese is a nod to Hilltop’s longtime association with the Crips street gang, while the arugula’s green color represents money and opportunity.
The sweet potato spread reflects family and togetherness, like gathering around the table at Thanksgiving. And the bread, she said, symbolizes the community itself, holding everything together.
“Hilltop has a bad rap,” she said. “But everything rises from the ashes.”
More Than a Restaurant
Ask her what she hopes people experience when they walk into Thyme Well Spent, and Jackson doesn’t start by talking about the food. To her, every meal is an opportunity to care for someone.
“Whether they’re having a bad day, they come in, get some food, get some nourishment, and then they leave with a good experience or with some inspiration or some faith,” she said.
“If I get them in my doors, they can leave transformed somehow.”
That philosophy reaches far beyond the café’s dining room.
During the school year, Jackson partners with local schools to help provide meals for students who can’t always afford lunch.
In the summer, Thyme Well Spent participates in the All Youth Can Eat program, serving free lunches to kids on Thursdays.
Her café has also become a classroom. After struggling with staffing during the restaurant’s early months, Jackson partnered with Jobs 253 to bring local students into the kitchen, giving teenagers hands-on restaurant experience while earning school credit.
Rather than taking on business loans, Jackson pieced together support through small-business development programs, grants and community resources over the course of nearly a decade.
“My whole business has been based off of faith, hustle, and grants,” she said.
Her message to would-be entrepreneurs out there? “If this is your purpose and this is something you’re meant to do, you’ll get it.”
A Bigger Dream
Jackson doesn’t dream of James Beard Awards or celebrity-chef status. She dreams of recreating the feeling she remembers from her own school cafeteria — a place where people feel seen, cared for and fed.
That’s why she hopes Thyme Well Spent eventually grows far beyond Tacoma.
“I would love to make it a franchise and have these all over the world,” she said. “To have that spot where you feel like you’re coming to meet a lunch lady.”
Then she laughs.
“World domination.”
Plan Your Visit
🍽️ Thyme Well Spent
📍5608 Park Ave. Tacoma, WA 98408
📞 (253) 205-9660
