The opening of an innovative Caribbean and fusion street food outlet Soul Shack is a dream come true for entrepreneur Alex Yarde.

The new venue, at The Crossing in Swindon’s Brunel Centre, opened in April but already it’s proving a hit with diners – and curried goat is proving a top seller for the newly-fledged business. It turns out cooking is a third career for ambitious Alex – his first love was music, then he went to university and spent ten years working in IT before taking the leap into running his own business.

“I wanted to become my own boss,” he said. “It’s something I have always wanted to do. I was doing some freelance web design work and whilst I was doing that, I saw this opportunity. My family is very much into food and this was something I wanted to do.”

Soul Shack is based in one of the independent food start-up units at The Crossing. Alex created a menu including traditional Caribbean cooking and some innovative fusion dishes. Customers can dine on jerk chicken, curried mutton, brown stewed chicken, and curried goat, served in a bun.

“A lot of people like it,” he said. “A lot of people give it a try, and find they love it. I use some family recipes and give them a modern twist.

"We do plan to have some Caribbean style vegan food soon as well.”

Alex, 32, is currently commuting from Milton Keynes – a journey of nearly an hour and a half – but he is planning to relocate to Swindon. He grew up in Reading and spent his teens and early twenties devoted to music, rapping, singing and producing. He comes from a musical family, and his uncle Mikey was a member of 80s pop sensation Culture Club.

He moved into scouting for music talent and worked with Emili Sande: “It was a highlight of the journey, meeting and working with her.”

Alex went to Oxford Brookes University, where he studied business management and computing. After graduating, he said he was one of only three successful candidates selected from 5000 applicants to secure a graduate apprentice role as a project analyst and manager, first with Getronics and then working for Deutsche Bank. He worked for the company for ten years, but at the back of his mind was always the dream of setting up his own business.

“Food was my third big interest, with music and IT,” he said. “I wanted to start my own food place, and this is a dream come true. This is the jackpot.”

He says some friends asked what he was doing, taking a jump into the risky world of the entrepreneur, but this was the path he wanted to take.

He has two employees working with him, and they get to work at seven or eight in the morning to prepare fresh food for the day. Soul Shack opens at 10am, and they serve breakfast every day served until 11:30am.

The eaterie also sells popular Caribbean teas teas and coffees such as Milo and Cerassie.

“When I wake up in the morning I am really excited about what I am doing,” Alex said. “I did enjoy my other job, but after you’ve been doing something for ten years it’s good to have a change. I like dealing with customers and having the opportunity to showcase my cooking skills and creativity. I love it."

Along with curried goat, curried mutton is a big seller, as well as the jerk chicken, which is cooked with pimento, scotch bonnet peppers, onions and jerk seasoning. Jerk is a fiery spice and the signature flavour of Jamaica – a cooking technique that involves marinating meat in a hot spice mixture.

The start-up is just the beginning as Alex has plenty of ambition the business.

“I would love to franchise it,” he said. “This is just the beginning.”

He said his family were proud of what he had done – and his 78-year-old grandmother Veronica is planning to relocate to Swindon to help him build his Soul Shack empire.

“She really wants to help out and get involved,” he said.

Soul Shack is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 4.30pm, with a late closure on Thursday at 7pm. Visit the Soul Shack page on Facebook for more information.