Kennesaw restaurant Forks & Flavors finds success on Food Network’s “Restaurant: Impossible”

It isn’t often that a restaurant owner will step out of the kitchen in drag. At Kennesaw’s Forks & Flavors, married co-owners Darnell Morgan and David Wilmott make a point to give customers a new experience each time they dine at their restaurant.

After Food Network’s “Restaurant: Impossible” featured Forks & Flavors, the owners are creating a fun dining experience complete with a variety of international flavors and entertainment to keep customers coming back for more.

Despite opening a restaurant in the middle of a pandemic, Morgan and Wilmott never doubted that it was the right thing to do.

“Of all the years for us to be ready to open a restaurant, it just so happened to happen during the pandemic,” Morgan said. “It’s just all of the stars aligned for us to open during a pandemic.”

Opening during COVID-19 had some benefits for the restaurant. A slow start allowed the owners to ease into the industry and gave them time to discover what to do and what not to do, Morgan said. It gave them a trial and error period in which to run their restaurant.

“I just think it was our opportunity to get things right and mess up,” Morgan said.

They found that customers were more appreciative that Forks & Flavors was even open and more understanding if the restaurant wasn’t fully staffed.

For the first year of opening, Morgan and Wilmott decided to wait to pursue media coverage until they were fully prepared to “go viral,” Morgan said. Going viral meant more to them than getting millions of views and likes on social media. It also meant that they would have to be prepared to handle an influx of customers.

“We have to give ourselves an opportunity to make sure that the kitchen, and all the recipes, are going to be done right to perfection every single time it comes out of the kitchen,” Morgan said.

Nearly a year and a half into opening their restaurant, “Restaurant: Impossible” reached out to the couple and invited them to apply to be on the show. At first, they didn’t know if they were ready to go viral, Morgan said, but now they’re at the point where they have good relationships with vendors and employees, and they can handle an influx of customers.

“I have everybody that we need to make sure that our restaurant is successful,” Morgan said.

Filming the project was a good experience for the couple and they enjoyed working with the production team, Wilmott said. On the show, chef Robert Irvine usually comes off as a harsh critic, and he can be seen “ripping the owner a new one,” Wilmott said, but behind the scenes it’s clear that Irvine is there to help.

“I can gather that on a lot of shows that the owners weren’t as receptive to his help as they should have been or needed to be,” Wilmott said. In this current season, however, people seem to really want the help, he said. “I also think that stems from the pandemic, because they know that this is going to essentially help them in the long run.”

The episode, titled “My Way or the Highway,” spends some time on Morgan’s occasionally difficult management style and the struggle between the co-owners.

“David has a very corporate management style. I have a very military management style,” Morgan said.

After filming with the couple for three days and accumulating ample amounts of footage, Morgan felt that some of the important parts were cut out of the final product, but overall the episode stayed true to Morgan and Wilmott.

“What they did show and how we did get edited, is 100% who we are,” Morgan said.

Since filming the show, Morgan has made an effort to be a little less loud, more understanding and more helpful in the kitchen now that there’s a process and system in place, he said.

After the show aired on May 12, the restaurant has already experienced an increase in social media followers. Wilmott and Morgan are waiting to see what comes next.

The restaurant’s menu is based on everyday meals with a twist, Wilmott said. They incorporate international flavors and call it modern infused cuisine.

Forks & Flavors aims to give its customers a totally different experience, Morgan said. He’s an entertainer, and he wants to bring entertainment to the restaurant.

“I want [customers] to say I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Morgan said. “I want them to say I’ve never seen an owner do something like that before. I want them to say I have never tasted something like this before. And I want that to be unique to every single visit that every person has.”