A single mum who has gone viral for selling Caribbean food on a canal boat is coming to Watford for the first time.
Helen Dent sells her Caribbean food from her canal barge boat restaurant and is due to moor up at Cassiobury Park from next Thursday (July 9) to Sunday.
The 46-year-old started her business, The Goat Boat Family, in 2023, after she and her then eight-year-old daughter Olivia began selling croissants, cakes and teas from the boat at Tring reservoir.
Her son Harry, 11 at the time, asked her to make Caribbean curry goat – and it was so good he suggested she sell it.
She launched a simple menu of jerk chicken, rice and peas, slaw, and sweet potato goat curry, with her son helping her cook.
The business has since expanded; she bought a larger boat, converted a 1981 fire engine into a food truck and opened a restaurant called The Goat Yard in Tring.
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Her business has featured in viral Instagram videos, including a review by food reviewer "Eating with Tod", which racked up 1.5 million views.
She has also shared her own journey on her Instagram, which boasts of 44,000 followers.
She said: "The business has gone crazy. I went from selling some food on a little boat. I never expected it to grow and for people to recognise me whenever I go to London."
The Goat Boat barge regularly visits towns along the Grand Union Canal - currently in Apsley - and is coming to Watford for the first time next weekend.
She said: “Never been to Watford, so it’s very exciting. Everywhere we go, we have queues. There should be a lot of people there."
"If people have never had our food, come along, it'll be a great day, the kids love the boat," she added.
