North Tulsa has a few new food options with a couple things in common. They’re all locally-owned and housed inside a single building.
Tulsa Food Court, located at 4443 N. Peoria Ave., is a concept from local pastors and business partners Scott Gordon and Ken Johnson. They opened the location in late June.
The food court features menus from three different restaurants: Mr. Wonderful’s Chicken and Waffles, offering jumbo chicken tenders and waffles; Clucky and Burkey’s, which offers an exotic burger; and Chippers Seafood and Southern, offering honey-glazed salmon.
“Pastor Scott had the real estate (here), and both (of us) had a passion to feed people,” Johnson, whose nickname is Chef Kenny, told The Eagle. “We came up and we instituted the concept over the last 30 days, and it’s really been a huge success.”
The pair began talking business about two and a half years ago when Johnson preached at Gordon’s church, Calvary Baptist. Johnson had a previous career as a chef, having created Mr. Wonderful’s Chicken and Chippers Seafood in his home state of Ohio.
While the building is small, the facade catches your eye. It’s decorated with images of menu items, including burritos, shrimp and burgers on a platter surrounded by red and blue flames.
Due to the lack of access to groceries, north Tulsa is considered a food desert. And though the food court isn’t offering fresh produce or diet-friendly meals it’s providing residents with another spot to have local food.
“It’s great to serve young people and to be able to bring different flavors where it’s just not (a) chicken or a burger,” Johnson said.
Instead, he said, he’s offering an upscale take on the classics.
“We do elevated chicken and elevated burgers, and we do stuffed burgers, beef and turkey, where we take and put the cheese in the middle of the burger,” Johnson said.
He estimated the business is serving about 100 people per day. In order to maintain momentum, he and Gordon plan on bringing three more menus to the store.
“You constantly have to be consistent …You (have to) make sure that you have a wild presentation,” Johnson said. “You look at what’s weak, what’s selling and not selling, and you constantly reset, rewind and wipe away what’s not working and bring new things you know to the table.”
Johnson said the food court will offer a new menu called “Yums Hibachi” on Mondays. It’ll blend east Asian and Black cuisine.
While Johnson focuses on the food, Gordon is expanding the restaurant’s reach by partnering with local schools, like McLain High, to provide lunch specials to students.
Their involvement as sponsors for high schools like Booker T. Washington and East Central is helping bring more people into the business, Gordon said.
The food court is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.
The concept has legs. The business partners plan on opening second and third locations in Sapulpa and east Tulsa.
Ismael Lele is a Report for America corps member and writes about business in Tulsa for The Oklahoma Eagle. Your donation to match our Report for America grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting this link.
