If you ask David Wilmott, 38, and Darnell Morgan, 34, co-owners of the new Kennesaw restaurant Forks & Flavors how long they’ve been married, you’ll likely encounter a moment of awkward silence followed by laughter that comes from a place deep inside their bellies indicating to anyone within earshot that there is a story behind their reaction. 

“A year and a month this time,” said Morgan, as he interrupts the laughter to explain the couple’s complex history that led them down the aisle and to divorce court before ultimately remarrying and opening their restaurant in 2020. 

Morgan, an Atlanta native and former nurse who runs the restaurant’s front of house, and Wilmott, a Greensboro, NC native and former accountant who runs the kitchen as Executive Chef, met on Twitter 11 years ago. The pair initially married in 2015 and by 2017 were finalizing their divorce. 

“I pushed for the divorce. We got the divorce, and I pushed for us to get back together,” said Morgan. “So I was kinda the antagonist throughout the beginning part of the relationship for the first five or six years. And then eventually, you know, I realized I needed to grow up and I couldn't live without him,” he said. 

Morgan says he took an inventory of his life and where he wanted to be in the next 20 to 30 years along with who he wanted by his side “and it all pointed back to being with David.” Wilmott, who says the pair never stopped communicating after their divorce was finalized, says although he initially had doubts about reuniting with Morgan, “as we began to communicate a little more, I was like, okay, I think we can do this again. I think it could work,” he said.  

And so far, it has. The partners in business and love turned a successful catering business started by Wilmott in 2014 that boasted celebrity clients such as T.I. & Tiny, R&B singer Monica, and the cast of Bravo reality series Married To Medicine into a full-fledged restaurant with the opening of Forks & Flavors in July 2020. With statistics showing that 60% of new restaurants fail within the first year, Wilmott says he was reluctant to transition from catering to operating a restaurant full time, but that was before an encounter in 2013 with a manager at the now-shuttered Diamond Dave’s Steakhouse in Kennesaw put them on the path to becoming restaurateurs. 

“If you want flavor, then you should have gone to Taco Bell,” Wilmott recalls in disbelief at the manager’s reaction to their complaint after Morgan was served a fried taco he remembers tasted like fish. 

“He went off on a tangent,” said Wilmott of Morgan’s reaction to the manager. “I was in shock. Like, she really said that. It caught us both off guard. And in 2014, I was like, let's open a restaurant. Of course, we didn't do much in 14. We just did all the background stuff to get the business started in 2015. I think we held our first tasting, which went well. We did a few events in 2015 and 2016. We didn't really do much in 16—that was when we started going through our divorce. And then things really started to take off in 2017,” he said. 

Images Via Forks and Flavors website

Authentic owners, authentic cuisine 

A big part of the restaurant’s success can be attributed to their popular brunch, which Morgan says feels more like a party than the typical brunch, especially for regular customers who return to have the Forks & Flavors experience weekly. 

“They enjoy the music. They love the fun that they have. They love the free shots that I pass out from time to time, he said. “They love the changing of the menu constantly throughout the day. As the day progresses, the menu gets more and more interesting because we have a brunch buffet. They love the fact that we don't have a two-hour maximum. They love that he [Wilmott] and I come out and speak to everybody in the restaurant. And so they come and don't leave, which is perfectly fine,” said Morgan. 

Wilmott’s signature macaroni and cheese is another reason their restaurant continues to be a hit with new and returning customers. Like its name [Forks & Flavors], Wilmott understands the importance of flavor, which he believes isn’t always learned in culinary school. 

“I enjoy cooking. It was something that came natural,” he said. “I believe in people going to school for culinary arts, but I don't think it really gives you the necessary skill to cook what people want. A lot of people eat with their eyes, so we can make it taste good and make it look good,” said Wilmott. 

And with Monday’s as their only official day off from running the restaurant, Morgan and Wilmott are constantly working to deliver on their promise to provide “great food for a great price,” a promise that did not take a backseat to the COVID-19 pandemic that forced restaurants around the world to close their dining rooms. Forks & Flavors, which opened at the height of the pandemic, persevered, despite being told that it was the worst time in history to open a new restaurant. 

“I've always been a positive person and I always flip it and just say, no, we decided to open during the best time,” said Morgan. “This building was vacant due to COVID-19, the previous restaurant, they just bellied up and left, and they left everything that you see in this restaurant except the glassware and obviously the alcohol. So we actually lucked up on a turnkey restaurant in the middle of a pandemic. We've been able to negotiate terms for our lease. We've been able to negotiate for restaurant equipment and we've been able to get discounts. We’ve been able to attract individuals from areas that we never thought existed simply because we opened during the pandemic,” he said. 

Morgan also acknowledges that their business received its fair share of criticism for remaining open during the pandemic which he views as ironic seeing how Atlanta “never really closed.” 

“People wanted somewhere to go, and we provided it. Space where there was no space at all. And if you want to come out and enjoy yourself, come out and enjoy yourself, and wear a mask,” he said. 

While literal mask-wearing is encouraged to reduce the probability of contracting COVID-19, the figurative mask that is often worn by Black gay men to escape societal persecution is not on the menu for Morgan and Wilmott, who are both out personally and professionally and have a zero-tolerance policy for homophobia, especially from customers who might take issue with their union. 

“If you feel a certain type of way about two Black gay men that are married, that owns a restaurant, and you don't want to come to the restaurant simply because of that, that is perfectly fine,” said Morgan. “Trust and believe, there's an entire state of people that are waiting to come in, simply because we are not only Black, but we're Black and gay.” 

And if Morgan and Wilmott have their way, there will be a Forks & Flavors in every major city in America. The couple are eying Houston as the next place where they will invite the public to sit at the table, grab a fork, and indulge in flavorful cuisine that is just as memorable as Wilmott’s macaroni & cheese, and as authentic as the love Morgan could not live without.