Fast Casual Executive Summit

Reality star Karlie Redd talks good food, service, location at Fast Casual Executive Summit

Love and Hip Hop Atlanta star Karlie Kloss shared brand success insight with attendees at the Fast Casual Executive Summit in Austin, Texas, on Sunday.

Photo: Willie Lawless/ Networld Media Group

October 6, 2025 by Mandy Wolf Detwiler — Editor, Networld Media Group

The Fast Casual Executive Summit, held this year in Austin, Texas, kicked off with a keynote address by Love and Hip Hop Atlanta star Karlie Redd, who also co-founded Johnny's Chicken & Waffles in College Park, Georgia.

The keynote, titled "The Brand is the Bistro: How Celebrity and Service Create a Winning Recipe," provided insight on Redd's vision and the challenges she faced starting her own restaurant brand.

"We knew it was going to be a vibe," Redd said. "We knew it was going to be something special."

The restaurant opened in late 2020. Redd's father had owned an award-winning restaurant since the 1960s, and Redd said everything big happened there: first dates, birthdays, anniversaries and the like.

That restaurant was built on community, and Redd hoped to emulate that.

"Him and my stepmom not only gave service, they gave community," Redd said. "They built a brand of community where it was like 'Cheers': everybody knows your name. And, that was the vibe I was looking for."

Redd, however, wanted to build more than a restaurant. She wanted to build a brand and that meant building a community.

Even hiring, she said, comes from community. Redd invited everyone from the community in College Park — and later in Dallas, Texas, when the brand expanded — to attend the grand opening, including local politicians and influencers, a big part of Johnny's Chicken & Waffles' social game.

Though the brand was built partially on Redd's celebrity, "if the food is not good, no one's coming back, right?" she said. "If the service is not good, no one's coming back."

When she visits the restaurant, she tastes the food to make sure it's up to par. And the way the servers should be dressed gives off the vibe Redd and her partners are looking for. In fact, "Better Taste, Better Vibes" has become a mantra for Johnny's Chicken & Waffles.

"Here's the thing about celebrity restaurants: When you merge your star power with something of substance, you can build something unforgettable," Redd said. "It's about honoring my craft, respecting the customers and showing up like the business depends on you."

Redd ot only makes sure her employees feel special but the customers as well. She interacts with every customer in the restaurant when she visits, and she makes sure her employees do the same.

Location is everything

Redd said finding the right location for Johnny's Chicken & Waffles was paramount to its success. Atlanta is known for its brunch spots, and waffles fulfilled that brunch need.

Redd said she'll often sit in her car for hours checking out a potential location for a restaurant and ask locals what they're looking for in that area — be it a lounge, a breakfast or something else.

Redd said the advice she'd give to a fledgling operator is to look at location first. She initially planned to open a Caribbean restaurant but then found out Atlanta is a brunch town and the original concept wouldn't work on the site where they'd chosen to build.

"Not only location is important, but what works for the area?" Redd said.

After an operator chooses a concept, working with and getting support from the community is important to finding success.

Making the customer feel special, right down to the children, has been a successful tool for Redd's team.

The biggest surprise Redd and her team faced, when opening another of her brands, was the difficulty applying for a liquor license, which she had to apply — and pay for — twice.

Redd said she hopes Johnny's Chicken & Waffles becomes a household name and plans to expand nationally.

"I do what I love, and when you love something and you're passionate about it, you're going to go so far," Redd said.

On the horizon

In the future, Redd would like to reopen her dad's restaurant in Brooklyn with the help of her brother, Ace, also a restaurateur.

Redd doesn't rely on her celebrity alone because celebrity doesn't keep your restaurant in business — the food and the customer service does.

"One bad review as a celebrity can hurt your business so much," Redd said. "It's worse than a regular person owning a restaurant. It's way worse."

Getting influencers to visit the restaurant — and getting good reviews — will bring in customers.

"The more people taking about your restaurant, the better," Redd said.

The Fast Casual Executive Summit is hosted by Networld Media Group. The next in-person summit is the Restaurant Franchising and Innovation Summit beingheld in San Diego March 16-18, 2026.

About Mandy Wolf Detwiler

Mandy Wolf Detwiler is the managing editor at Networld Media Group and the site editor for PizzaMarketplace.com and QSRweb.com. She has more than 20 years’ experience covering food, people and places.

An award-winning print journalist, Mandy brings more than 20 years’ experience to Networld Media Group. She has spent nearly two decades covering the pizza industry, from independent pizzerias to multi-unit chains and every size business in between. Mandy has been featured on the Food Network and has won numerous awards for her coverage of the restaurant industry. She has an insatiable appetite for learning, and can tell you where to find the best slices in the country after spending 15 years traveling and eating pizza for a living.

Connect with Mandy: