FSR May 2023

KANDI BURRUSS

Burruss was in love with the idea, and it was not as if she hadn’t heard it before. Everyone around her had spent years saying her family needs a restau rant. Her mother, Joyce Jones, is the youngest of 14 children, and a majority of them can "really throw down in the kitchen," Burruss says. Bertha and her aunt Nora both have professional kitchen backgrounds, hav ing worked at Piccadilly, a cafeteria-style concept. ey also worked with food in the school system. One of her uncles was a chef and the only person to truly operate a restaurant. After he passed, no one followed in his footsteps, but it was always talked about. So when Tucker brought it up once again, Burruss knew it was time to strike. Old Lady Gang debuted in downtown Atlanta in 2016, less than a mile from Mercedes-Benz Stadium and State Farm Arena, the homes of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons and the NBA's Atlanta Hawks, respectively. e name of the restaurant

is dedicated to the three matriarchs in Burruss’s family—Joyce, Bertha, and Nora—who insert their special recipes. Other relatives work as employees, and some menu items are dedicated to fam ily members, like Mama Joyce’s BBQ Rib Tips, Aunt Bertha’s Fried Chicken, Kan di’s Honey Glazed Blackened Salmon, and Todd’s Crispy Salmon Bites. Joyce, Bertha, and Nora don’t work in the kitchen, but they do often hang around the restaurant, greet customers, and nd time to boss workers around, Bur russ jokes. e menu was a collaboration between the family and a professional chef, who tweaked the recipes to t in a full-ser vice kitchen. "We told him the things that our fam ily made that people loved, and then he tweaked those things," Burruss says. "That’s the other thing—when you're cooking at home you can take your time, but when you have to get the food out, it's a di erent process. So he helped us

streamline some of those things and also helped us nd a couple of things that were just very speci c to our res taurant that people could come to the Old Lady Gang for what they won't get anywhere else." Moving the restaurant from theory to reality wasn’t easy. Burruss and Tucker wanted to own the building, so they dealt with the buildout and worked with the City of Atlanta to make sure every thing was up to code. And not everyone believed in them. During this process, Tucker met with a restaurateur and asked if he wanted to become a partner in Old Lady Gang. Tucker was turned down, but that didn’t deter him. e operator allowed Tucker to shadow him while he opened a new location. Eventually, the restaurant owner served as a consultant for Tucker and Burruss as they rolled out Old Lady Gang, which opened to lines down the block and around the corner. e restaurant has since debuted two more locations. One is located 10 min-

“ THE COOL THING IS, IT'S HELPING THE COMMUNITY. WE EMPLOY SO MANY PEOPLE FROM THE COMMUNITY AND JUST GIVE SO MUCH

OPPORTUNITY. THAT ALONE IS REWARDING. ”

D E MORRIS MARABLE (3)

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FSRMAGAZINE.COM

MAY 2023