This Culinary Incubator is Fueling Restaurant Entrepreneurship on Route 66

Since its founding a century ago, Route 66 has always represented new opportunities. For the earliest travelers, those opportunities might have meant new livelihoods out west, while others sought adventure on the open road. For some, it meant easier connectivity between towns and cities, and the chance for farmers to sell their products to wider audiences.

Then and now, Route 66 has always represented opportunities for entrepreneurs, creators, and innovators, and it’s that spirit driving Kitchen 66, a culinary incubator inside the only non-profit food hall in Oklahoma. 

Mother Road Market: A Destination Along Oklahoma's Route 66

Located on Oklahoma’s stretch of Route 66 in Tulsa, a stone’s throw from other road trip attractions like the Land of the Giants and the Golden Driller, Kitchen 66 is the “kickstart kitchen” that fuels Mother Road Market.

Founded in 2016 by Elizabeth Frame Ellison, daughter of former mayor Kathy Taylor, Kitchen 66 began in a separate space in downtown Tulsa, featuring a rentable commercial kitchen, food-focused business classes, and a pop-up market during the lunch hour. Ellison was conceptualizing her own cupcake business, and seeing a lack of resources available for start-up restaurateurs and culinary entrepreneurs, Kitchen 66 took shape to ease the cost of entry for like-minded folks in the food business. 

The pop-up market hosted rotating restaurant concepts, offering an opportunity for entrepreneurs to test out their concepts—and get real-world experience with everything from customer service to kitchen training—without needing to go all in on an expensive brick and mortar right away. 

“It was wildly embraced by the community,” says Brian Paschal, Chief Executive Officer of Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation, which operates both Kitchen 66 and the food hall. “Out of that success, we built Mother Road Market, which is the piece in the community that most people visually connect with. The heartbeat of Mother Road Market is entirely a result of the Kitchen 66 program.”

Oklahoma's First Food Hall

Run out of the back of Mother Road Market, which opened in 2018 on Route 66 in the Tulsa Market District, Kitchen 66 is right at home in the state’s first — and only non-profit — food hall. Along with 14 multi-cultural businesses operating on multi-term leases with the food hall, including eateries like Brazilian-inspired Doctor Kustom and Afrikan Delights, Kitchen 66 operates three of its own sales channels: the Pop-Up Spot for bakers and consumer product goods, the Takeover Cafe, which features a different restaurant concept daily, and the Takeover Cafe Residency, offering longer stints. 

Describing the takeover cafes as the “vibrancy of the market,” ensuring there’s something new to taste with each visit, Paschal highlights the entrepreneurial assets that Kitchen 66 provides for folks trying out new businesses. 

“The Takeover Cafe is a daily opportunity that provides a pipeline for people to test their menus, relate with customers, and practice ordering and staffing,” he explains. “The Takeover Cafe Residency is a model for one to two weeks. Things get more complicated because they’re doing bulk ordering, real staffing, and testing their menus and pricing.”

A Culinary Incubator for Entrepreneurs

Along with a Kitchen 66 General Store, operating like a mini market-within-a-market, there’s also a 3,000-sq.-ft. commercial kitchen in the back of the food hall, where dozens of food businesses rent space by the hour, whether it’s making doughnuts at 1 a.m. or catering a wedding in the evening. “Not everybody wants a brick and mortar on their own,” Paschal notes. “Some want to be caterers or private chefs, so we wanted to create a space catering to them. I think it’s that variety, and the pipelines that we have, that make us different.” 

Since its inception, more than 250 food entrepreneurs have graduated from the Kitchen 66 program, representing cuisines from over 20 countries. Along with diversifying the food options at Mother Road Market, it provides opportunities to diversify the dining scene in Tulsa at large. Some food businesses have gone on to open their own restaurants in the city, like Ecuadorian Que Gusto, Big Dipper Creamery, Cajun-inspired LeRoux’s Kitchen, and Ruth’s Chicken. “Once you realize how many people have touched us, it’s quite a bit,” Paschal adds. “In return, I like to think and hope that we’ve helped elevate the culinary scene here in Tulsa.” 

Kitchen 66: Part of Oklahoma's Route 66 Legacy

For future businesses, Kitchen 66 runs a launch program, designed to provide training and mentorship, with classes in both English and Spanish. Kitchen membership is also available for licensed food businesses, including food trucks using it as their commissary kitchen, and pop-up concepts.  

By every metric, Kitchen 66 has been a smashing success for the food hall, for the neighborhood, and for Tulsa at large. In focusing on food, the kickstart kitchen has been able to connect with the greater community in immense ways. In 2025, Paschal notes that Kitchen 66’s economic impact was $9.4 million, while Mother Road Market reached $11.6 million, further cementing the Tulsa Market District as a marquee destination on the Mother Road. 

“We’re on Route 66, and it’s the 100th year of Route 66,” Paschal says. “As a kid, traveling it with my family, what I loved was the mom-and-pop businesses, and the unique things in each community. We’re still living that legacy here on Route 66.”