“𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬; 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙣,” says Aniyah Mack with a warm, growing smile. “Linden Grill has always been a part of my life, and I’m looking forward to making this really great place even better.”

𝗔𝗻𝗶𝘆𝗮𝗵’𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗱. Her father, Alfonso Mack, grew up in South Bend and learned to cook in the kitchens of his mom and grandma. While attending college in Mississippi, he honed his skills by cooking for his college basketball teammates before returning to South Bend to open the first Linden Grill location on Linden Avenue in 2000.

“Well, I’m 25 now, so, yeah… I’ve been around the Linden Grill for as long as I can remember.” Even when she moved to Mississippi for college and obtained her degree in Information Technology, Aniyah was always thinking about how she could apply her learning to the family restaurant back home.