Ford Fry is Chef and CEO of Rocket Farm Restaurants and its prolific portfolio of restaurants in Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Houston, and Cary, NC.
Ford’s culinary inspirations span several decades and much of the country: from eating out with his family as a child in Texas, to studying at the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont, to spending time as a fine dining chef in Florida, Colorado and California—and eventually landing in Atlanta. Ford’s love for Atlanta grew quickly, and it became the home and springboard for his restaurant empire – which all began in 2007 with the opening of the beloved JCT. Kitchen & Bar in ATL’s West Midtown neighborhood.
Today, Ford’s collective of restaurants includes 23 (and counting) restaurants in Atlanta (Beetlecat, Little Rey, Marcel, no. 246, St. Cecilia, The Optimist, and Superica locations in Buckhead, Avalon, The Battery, Krog Street Market, Dunwoody and West Midtown); Charlotte (Superica); his hometown of Houston (La Lucha, State of Grace, Superica); Nashville (Le Loup, The Optimist + Star Rover Sound, Superica); and Cary, NC (Superica) – doubling down on Superica Tex Mex, whose empire is poised to grow even more in 2023 and beyond. In late 2023, Ford will open an anticipated new concept, Little Sparrow, in the former JCT. Kitchen space in Atlanta, which closed simply to make room for something new. Along with his roles at his restaurants, Ford is also the founder of one of Atlanta’s most popular food events, the Attack of the Killer Tomato Festival. More than 11 years strong, this annual event is now led by Georgia Organics and has featured some of the South’s best chefs and mixologists, paired with local farmers to create innovative tomato dishes.
Though each has its own distinct and distinguished identity, all of Ford’s restaurants have a few things in common: they’re as formal as guests want them to be, they’re chef owned and operated, they’re committed to their communities, and they serve exceptional food made with local ingredients and attention to detail. "I want to create restaurants that strike a timeless emotional chord – restaurants that don't pander to trend, but draw generations of families together,” he says.
Ford’s cookbook, Tex-Mex: Traditions, Innovations and Comfort Foods from Both Sides of the Border, published in April 2019. With bright, bold photography, Tex-Mex puts an approachable, inviting spin on beloved classics. Neither pretentious nor overly complex, Tex-Mex reveals the soul of this definitively American cuisine.
Over the years, Ford has accumulated an impressive list of awards and accolades; he is a four-time semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation’s Outstanding Restaurateur Award and won the Georgia Restaurant Association’s Crystal of Excellence (GRACE) Award for Restaurateur of the Year in 2013. Additionally, he and his restaurants have been featured in numerous national publications including Bon Appétit, Condé Nast Traveler, Esquire, Food & Wine, Garden & Gun, Southern Living, the Washington Post, and many more.
In addition to his culinary endeavors, Ford is also a talented musician – he picked up the guitar and piano in seventh grade before starting a band, “Common Sense,” playing everything from parties to proms – and giving his guitar strings another go every now and then today. . A self proclaimed adrenaline junkie, he first scratched that itch through deep powder & cliff skiing and mountain biking in Aspen, until moving to Atlanta and taking up dirt biking (after realizing a motorcycle simply wasn’t enough thrill). Now, he’d say his hobbies are a little more tame – taking up tennis with his sons, and getting more into pickleball by the day.