The King's Kitchen

We went to The King's Kitchen when we were in Charlotte for New Year's. My sister, Sadie, and her husband were visiting his family in Winston-Salem, NC, for the holidays because his sister happened to have given birth to the world's most strikingly handsome young man:

....where was I? Oh. Skillet-fried chicken. We met halfway to spend a few days together. When they lived in Winston-Salem a few years ago, she worked for Wildfire (a marketing/design/production kind of place) and they created the website and did marketing for The King's Kitchen, so she suggested we go there for lunch.

[Enter life-changing moment]

The King's Kitchen is a non-profit restaurant that partners with local ministries to provide Charlotte's homeless with employment opportunities. 100% of the proceeds go back into the community and they use fresh, local ingredients for their "New Local Southern Cuisine" menu. Think of a "meat and three" wearing a collared shirt instead of a t-shirt.

No need to reinvent the wheel and paraphrase...

Vision: “The King’s Kitchen” is a ministry operating as a not for profit restaurant to raise funds to feed the poor and to train and equip those previously unemployable in the restaurant trade.

Mission: “The King’s Kitchen” will operate as a public restaurant, serving local, healthy, Southern cuisine and the profits and proceeds from “The King’s Kitchen” will go toward feeding the poor. In addition, The King’s Kitchen will also operate “The King’s Kitchen Restoration Program” as a five-part training program to employ, train and minister the gospel of Jesus Christ to homeless, the poor, troubled youth, rehab graduates and other members of our community who are in need of employment. The King’s Kitchen will operate in the spirit of excellence by training and equipping the whole person (spirit, soul and body) thereby sending out developed leaders into our community. This will be done by working together with other local ministries, businesses, non-profits and people of faith.

From the front of the house to the back, the employees are professional and friendly... just happened to have been down on their luck at some point. A professional photographer donated his time and outfitted the restaurant with framed images of some of the employees (above photos). I wanted to buy one off of the wall until I found out they were a gift, so I sneaked a pic for my office. Their food was great and the place was packed on a Wednesday lunch.

[Enter quick plug]

Sadie has since moved back to Austin and started her own marketing company, SKC Marketing, doing freelance marketing/design/production kinds of stuff. If you need someone easy to work with to whip you up something creative, use your favorite social media and connect with her (she could probably tweet a business meeting with you if that's what you preferred). When she was 13, her 5-minute doodle was selected as a Curad Bandage design. You can't make this stuff up.

King's Kitchen is located at the corner of Trade and Church Streets in Downtown Charlotte. They're open for lunch Monday-Friday and dinner Monday-Saturday. As they say on the ranch, "If you enjoyed your ride, tip your guide."

[photo sources: Capitol Charlotte, Mrs. WRCIV]